The Prognostic Significance of c-Met and p53 Immunohistochemical Expression in Gastric and Colorectal Carcinomas

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Colorectal and gastric carcinomas are the most common and deadly gastrointestinal (GIT) malignancies. AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the expression of c-Met and p53 in gastric and colorectal carcinomas (CRCs) as well as colorectal adenomas using immunohistochemistry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: c-Met and p53 immunohistochemical expression was conducted on 66 cases of gastric adenocarcinomas and total of 60 colonic cases (36 CRCs and 24 colorectal adenomas). RESULTS: In this study, c-Met was positively expressed in 54.5% of gastric carcinomas and 50% of CRCs. In addition, p53 was positively expressed in 56.1% of gastric carcinomas and 72.2% of CRCs. Moreover, higher expression of both c-Met (p = 0.001) and p53 expression (p < 0.001) was reported in CRCs compared to colorectal adenomas. In the same context, c-Met and p53 expressions were positively correlated with intestinal type gastric adenocarcinoma (p < 0.001 and p = 0.03, respectively). Moreover, c-Met was correlated with non-mucinous adenocarcinomas (p = 0.008) and lower grades (p < 0.001) of gastric carcinomas. As regard survival analysis in gastric carcinomas, median overall survival (OS) was better in p53 positive patients (p = 0.05), patients with negative lymph node metastasis (p = 0.03), and patients with better response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (p = 0.04). In contrast, c-Met did not exhibit significant correlation with OS (p > 0.05). Both c-Met and p53 did not reveal significant correlation with tumor stage and site in both CRCs and gastric carcinomas (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: We concluded that c-Met and p53 are expressed in the most common GIT malignancies addressing them as potential biomarkers. In addition, c- Met and p53 may have a potential role in colorectal cancer development as they showed higher positivity in CRCs compared to adenomas.