Expression and clinical significance of CD44v3 and VEGF-C in gastric cancers

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of CD44v3 and VEGF-C in human gastric cancers and the clinical significance. Methods The expression of CD44v3 and VEGF-C was detected by immunohistochemistry SP method in 92 gastric cancer tissues. Results Positive immunohistochemical stain for CD44v3 was identified in 27.2% of gastric cancer tissues. There was no correlation found among the expression of CD44v3 with sex, location,depth of invasion, WHO type, Lauren type as well as distant metastasis (all P ＞ 0. 05 ). The expression of CD44v3 was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and tumor differentiation( all P ＜ 0. 05 ). Positive immunohistochemical stain for VEGF-C was identified in 48.9% of gastric cancer tissues. There was no correlation found among the expression of VEGF-C with sex,location, tumor differentiation, depth of invasion, WHO type, as well as distant metastasis ( all P ＞ 0. 05 ). The expression of VEGF-C was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and Lauren type ( all P ＜0. 05). Cox-Regression reflected that only the lymphatic metastasis situation correlated with the life ratio( P =0. 015). Conclusion The expression of CD44v3 and VEGF-C could suggest the progression and metastatic potential value of gastric cancer,but didnt correlate with the life ratio. There was no cooperation between CD44v3 and VEGF-C in promoting gastric cancer metastasis. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Cell adhesion molecules; Antigens,CD44; Vascular endothelial growth factor C