Distant metastasis of gastric cancer is associated with elevated expression of the antimetastatic nm23 gene

Abstract

To understand the clinical significance of nm23 gene expression in gastric cancer patients, the Nm23-H1 protein level of fresh resected specimens from a total of 37 gastric cancer patients was measured by Western blot analysis. The elevated nm23 expression group (Nm23-H1 protein level in tumor tissue greater than the 75th percentile value of patients) was significantly associated with the histologically differentiated type ( P=0.036). This group had a higher incidence of distant (hematogeneous) metastasis ( P=0.0023) and a lower 2-year disease-free survival rate ( P=0.033) than the non-elevated group. The result was not consistent with the previous assumption that nm23 is an antimetastatic gene for gastric cancer.