Association of ezrin expression in intestinal and diffuse gastric carcinoma with clinicopathological parameters and tumor type

Abstract

To investigate the correlation between ezrin expression and types of gastric carcinoma and clinico-pathological variables. We examined ezrin protein expression in 75 gastric carcinoma (53 intestinal types of adenocarcinoma, 22 diffuse types of carcinoma) tissues by immunohistochemistry. The results were compared with clinicopathological parameters such as tumor type, grade of tumor, clinical stage, presence of metastatic lymph node, and depth of invasion. Ezrin immunostaining was positive in 43 cases (81.1%) of intestinal type and in 9 (40.9%) cases of diffuse type adenocarcinomas (P < 0.001). In gastric carcinomas, the expression of ezrin protein correlated with the status of H pylori and survival. There was no correlation between expression of ezrin with TNM stage and histological grade of gastric carcinomas (P > 0.05). The low expression of ezrin implicates the loss of adhesion in diffuse carcinomas. Furthermore, overexpression of ezrin in carcinomas with H pylori infection may be a genuine specific pathway in which H pylori may cause/initiate gastric carcinoma.