Molecular risk markers related to local tumor recurrence at histological margin-free endoscopically resected early gastric cancers: A pilot study

Abstract

Local recurrences in early gastric cancers (EGCs) after complete endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) remain problematic. Here, we investigated the spatially sequential molecular changes in various cancer-related proteins along the axis of the histologically clear but recurrent resection margins (TRM) to determine the appropriate tumor-free margin distance and potential molecular risk markers related to local recurrence. Five eligible patients with recurrent EGCs after complete ESD were selected from 548 EGC patients. The specimens, including recurrent resection margin axis, were divided into 5 zones. Digital spatial profiling assay was performed to quantify the expression level of 31 cancer-related proteins along each zone. p-Chk1 level was significantly reduced in TRM zone than non-recurrent resection margin. The expression of p44/42 ERK and p-Chk1 were significantly decreased along the lateral axis of the recurrent resection margin, with no significance toward the normal zone, which may suggest that p44/42 ERK and p-Chk1 may be involved in the recurrent side compared to non-recurrent margin. Although we could not evaluate more than 5.5 mm, the significant linear decreases in p44/42 ERK and p-Chk1 were maintained until at least 5.5 mm from the tumor zone in the TRM direction. We estimated the possible margin distance using scatterplots and linear regression analyses, which also showed the estimated distance more than 5.5 mm. In conclusion, the p-Chk1 and p44/42 ERK may be potential candidates of molecular risk markers that may be related to the local recurrence after complete ESD, and a tumor-free distance of 5.5 mm is not enough for safety margin.