Aberrant expression of intelectin-1 in gastric cancer: its relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis

Abstract

Human intelectin-1 (ITLN-1) is a novel identified galactose-binding lectin that is expressed in the colonic goblet cells. Since gastric adenocarcinomas can arise through a process of intestinalization, we speculate that ITLN-1 may be aberrantly expressed in gastric cancer. This study was undertaken to examine the ITLN-1 expression in gastric cancer and correlate it with clinical outcomes. One hundred and ninety-six gastric cancer patients were evaluated for the ITLN-1 expression by immunohistochemistry. The ITLN-1 transcripts were measured by real-time quantitative PCR. ITLN-1 expression was absent in normal gastric mucosa, whereas areas of intestinal metaplasia revealed ITLN-1 immunoreactivity. One hundred and forty-two gastric cancer patients (72.4%) were positive for ITLN-1 expression. In a subtotal of 20 patients, ITLN-1 transcripts were significantly enhanced in gastric cancer tissues than in normal gastric mucosa (P<0.001). The expression rate of ITLN-1 was higher in intestinal-type carcinomas than in diffuse-type carcinomas (P=0.003). ITLN-1 positivity in gastric cancer was positively correlated with tumor differentiation (P=0.001) and CDX2 expression (P<0.001), and inversely correlated with depth of invasion (P=0.007), lymph node metastasis (P=0.001), distant metastasis (P=0.014), clinical stage (P=0.006), Ki-67 expression (P=0.001), and heparanase expression (P<0.001), without correlation with age, gender, tumor location, or tumor size. In univariate and multivariate analyses, ITLN-1 was an independent prognostic factor for longer survival of gastric cancer patients (P=0.001). The aberrant ITLN-1 expression in gastric cancer is correlated with clinicopathological features and may be a useful prognostic factor for predicting the outcomes of gastric cancer patients.