Significance and relationship between ornithine decarboxylase and c-myc expression in gastric carcinoma and precancerous lesions

Abstract

Objective We detected the expression of ornithine decarboxylase and c-myc mRNA in gastric carcinoma and precancerous lesions,to analyse the differences and relevance of the two,and to investigate the role of ODC and c-myc in the process of the intestinal metaplasia as well as their role in gastric carcinogenesis. Methods The PT-PCR method was used to detect the expression of ODC and c-myc mRNA in 18 cases of chronic superficial gastritis(CSG), 18 cases of chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia CAG(with IM),12 cases of gastric dysplasia (DYS) and 30 cases of gastric carcinoma (GC). Results The expression of ODC was lower in CSG than in CAG (with IM), DYS and GC(P<0.01). In addition,the expression of ODC was lower in well differentiated adenocarcinorma than in poorly and moderatedly differentiated adenocarcinorma (P<0.01). The expression of c-myc was higher in GC than in CSG and CAG (with IM)(P<0.01). Besides, the expression of c-myc was higher in poorly differentiated adenocarcinorma than in well and moderatedly differentiated adenocarcinorma (P<0.01).The expression of ODC mRNA was closely related to c-myc mRNA in gastric carcinogenesis(P<0.01). Conclusions ODC may play an important role as carcinogenic factor,and c-myc promotes cell proliferation by inducing ODC expression. Detecting both markers together may help in early diagnosis of gastric carcinoma. Key words: Ornithine decarboxylase; C-myc; Gastric carcinoma; Precancerous lesions; RT-PCR