Abstract
The UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (GALE) is a glycosyltransferase, which acts on protein and lipid glycosylation in normal and neoplastic cells. This study is aimed at investigating the differential tissue expression of GALE and its possible association with clinical-pathological parameters and the outcome of gastric adenocarcinoma patients. Seventy-one patients were evaluated in relation to GALE expression by immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that 48 (67.6%) patients were GALE positive and 23 (32.4%) negative. Positive staining was present on well-differentiated and moderate-differentiated histological grade of gastric adenocarcinomas (p < 0.0001). There was no significant association with outcome parameters (p > 0.05). Besides that, our results corroborated with the validation cohort analysis, where the expression of GALE mRNA was also associated with the histological grade (p < 0.001). These results suggest a possible use of this enzyme as a biomarker for well and moderately differentiated tumors.
Highlights
Gastric cancer (GC) has low survival rates and represents the second leading cause of death associated with cancer worldwide
GC patients included in this study had a mean age of 59:4 ± 12:9 years; 47 (66.1%) were male and 24 (33.9%) were female
GC histological types positive to GALE corresponded to tubular (Figure 1(a)), papillary (Figure 1(b)), poorly differentiated (Figure 1(c)), and mucinous (Figure 1(d))
Summary
Gastric cancer (GC) has low survival rates and represents the second leading cause of death associated with cancer worldwide. This neoplasia presents heterogeneous characteristics and different biological behaviors, besides variations in therapeutic response and clinical course [1,2,3,4]. Discovery of new biomarkers for diagnosis and a segment of GC can optimize its therapeutic strategies [5]. Glycosylation is a common post-translational and/or co-translational biochemical event in protein and lipid synthesis. It is an important cellular mechanism often altered in several types of cancer. The first step of glycosylation reactions is determined by glycosyltransferases (GTs) [6]
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