Differential Expression and Significance of Endoplasmic Reticulum Golgi Intermediate Compartment 1 in Precancerous Gastric Lesions and Gastric Cancer

Abstract

BackgroundWe investigated the expression of endoplasmic reticulum Golgi intermediate compartment 1 (ERGIC1) in precancerous gastric lesions and gastric cancer and the function of ERGIC in human gastric cancer cell lines. Materials and MethodsA total of 160 subjects were enrolled. The expression of ERGIC1 was assayed using immunohistochemistry. Overexpression of ERGIC1 in SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells was used to evaluate the function of ERGIC1. ResultsMost normal gastric mucosal tissues and the tissues with mild dysplasia showed strong expression of ERGIC1 (80% and 73.3%, respectively) assayed using immunohistochemistry. In the majority of gastric tissues with moderate and severe dysplasia, ERGIC1 was moderately positive (83.3% and 66.7%, respectively), whereas in a small proportion of gastric tissues with severe dysplasia (16.7%) and of the gastric cancer tissues (22.5%), ERGIC1 was weakly positive. No expression of ERGIC1 was found in the gastric tissues of a small proportion of severe dysplasia (16.7%) and in the most of the gastric cancer (67.5%) patients. Semiquantitative analysis revealed a gradual reduction in the expression score of ERGIC1 from normal gastric mucosal tissues to tissues from early gastric cancer. In addition, overexpression of ERGIC1 in SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells inhibited the cell proliferation by 27.5% and 30%, respectively, on day 5. On the other hand, overexpression of ERGIC1 in both cell lines enhanced the apoptosis by 33.5% and 53.2%, respectively, as compared to control cells. ConclusionThese results suggested that ERGIC1 might play an inhibitory role in the initiation and progression of gastric cancer.