Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Dec 24, 2021; 12(12): 1202-1214
Published online Dec 24, 2021. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v12.i12.1202
Increased tensin 4 expression is related to the histological type of gastric cancer
Marcin Nizioł, Justyna Zińczuk, Konrad Zaręba, Katarzyna Guzińska-Ustymowicz, Anna Pryczynicz
Marcin Nizioł, Katarzyna Guzińska-Ustymowicz, Anna Pryczynicz, Department of General Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, Białystok 15-089, Poland
Justyna Zińczuk, Department of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University of Białystok, Bialystok 15-089, Poland
Konrad Zaręba, The Second Clinical Department of General and Gastroenterological Surgery, Medical University of Bialystok, Białystok 15-089, Poland
Author contributions: Nizioł M and Pryczynicz A contributed to the conceptualization and data curation; Nizioł M, Zińczuk J, Zaręba K, Guzińska-Ustymowicz K and Pryczynicz A contributed to the methodology and investigation; Nizioł M contributed to the resources, writing—original draft preparation, visualization, project administration and funding acquisition; Pryczynicz A contributed to the writing—review and editing, supervision; all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by the Medical University of Bialystok, No. SUB/1/DN/20/002/3314.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Medical University of Bialystok. The research was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Medical University of Bialystok, permission no.: R-I-002/29/2019.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have nothing to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work noncommercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is noncommercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Anna Pryczynicz, PhD, Associate Professor, Postdoc, Department of General Pathomorphology, Medical University of Bialystok, Kilińskiego 1, Białystok 15-089, Poland. anna.pryczynicz@umb.edu.pl
Received: April 15, 2021
Peer-review started: April 15, 2021
First decision: June 17, 2021
Revised: June 29, 2021
Accepted: November 18, 2021
Article in press: November 18, 2021
Published online: December 24, 2021
Processing time: 252 Days and 16.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. Tensin 4 (TNS4) is an adhesive protein belonging to the tensin family. This protein is located in focal adhesion sites. The TNS4 gene is considered an oncogene in numerous cancers. This protein plays an important role in adhesion, migration and proliferation of cells.

AIM

To evaluate expression of TNS4 protein in GC tissues and analysis of the clinical and histopathological parameters as well as the overall survival rate of patients.

METHODS

The expression of TNS4 was assessed in 89 patients using immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

Positive expression of TNS4 was observed in 49 of 89 patients (55.06%). Higher TNS4 expression was more common in GC tumors with a diameter ≥ 5 cm (P = 0.040). We demonstrated that an increase in TNS4 expression was more frequent in tumors of the histological type without mucinous components than in tumors from mucosal cancers (P = 0.023). Furthermore, TNS4 expression was higher in moderately differentiated tumors than in poorly differentiated and non-differentiated tumors (P = 0.002). Increased TNS4 expression was also noted in the intestinal type of GC according to Lauren’s classification (P = 0.020). No statistically significant correlation was found between the expression of TNS4 and the overall survival rate of patients.

CONCLUSION

TNS4 expression was significantly higher in tumors with a diameter ≥ 5 cm of the moderately differentiated intestinal type (according to Lauren’s classification) of GC without a mucinous component. Therefore, increased TNS4 expression is related to the histological type of GC with a better prognosis.

Keywords: Gastric cancer; Tensin 4; Adhesion proteins; Immunohistochemistry

Core Tip: Tensin 4 (TNS4) is an adhesive protein belonging to the tensin family that plays an important role in cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation. These processes are important in cancer development and may limit cancer cell growth and improve patient survival. By applying immunohistochemistry, we investigated TNS4 expression in gastric cancer (GC) tissues and discovered that TNS4 expression was significantly higher in tumors with a diameter greater than 5 cm, in tumors of the moderately differentiated intestinal type (according to Lauren’s classification) and in GC without a mucinous component. We concluded that enhanced TNS4 expression was associated with the histological type of GC with a better prognosis.