Expression and clinical significance of Raf kinase inhibitor protein and phosphorylated Raf kinase inhibitor protein in gastric carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) and phosphorylated Raf kinase inhibitor protein (P- RKIP) in gastric carcinoma and their relation with the invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma.Methods Immunohistochemistry was employed to detect the expression of RKIP and P - RKIP in gastric carcinoma and paratumor tissues,respectively.Statistical analysis was used to determine the relationship between their expression level and clinicopathological parameters.Results The positive rates of RKIP in gastric carcinoma and paratumor tissues were 20.0％ and 80.0％,respectively,and that of P -RKIP were 26.3％ and 73.7％.The average staining of RKIP and P -RKIP were 0.563 ±0.895 and 0.519 ±0.476 in gastric carcinoma,and were 1.182 ±0.752 and 0.933 ± 0.513 in paratumor fissues.Statistical analysis revealed that the expression level of RKIP and P - RKIP in tumor tissue were significantly lower than that in paratumor tissues ( P ＜ 0.05 ).RKIP and P - RKIP expression were dramatically lower in gastric carcinoma with lymphatic metastasis than that without lympatic metastasis.In moderately and well differentiated gastric carcinoma both RKIP and P -RKIP positive stain rate was significantly higher than that in poorly differentiated ones.There was a positive correlation between RKIP and P - RKIP expression in gastric carcinoma and in paratumor tissues.Conclusions The expression of RKIP and P - RKIP are down - regulated in gastric carcinoma tissues.And the expression level of RKIP and P - RKIP are correlated with the differentiation and lymphatic metastasis of gastric carcinoma. Key words: Gastric carcinoma; Raf kinase inhibitor protein; Phosphorylated raf kinase inhibitor protein