Expression of estrogen receptor and estrogen receptor messenger RNA in gastric carcinoma tissues

AIM: To study estrogen receptor (ER) and estrogen receptor messenger RNA (ERmRNA) expression in gastric carcinoma tissues and to investigate their association with the pathologic types of gastric carcinoma.METHODS: The expression of ER and ERmRNA in gastric carcinoma tissues (15 males and 15 females, 42-70 years old) was detected by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, respectively.RESULTS: The positive rate of ER (immunohistochemistry)was 33.3% in males and 46.7% in females. In Borrmann Ⅳ gastric carcinoma ER positive rate was greater than that in other pathologic types, and in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma the positive rates were greater than those in other histological types of both males and females (P＜0.05). The ER was more highly expressed in diffused gastric carcinoma than in non-diffused gastric carcinoma (P＜0.05). The ER positive rate was also related to regional lymph nodes metastases (P＜0.05), and was significantly higher in females above 55 years old, and higher in males under 55 years old (P＜0.05). The ERmRNA (in situ hybridization) positive rate was 73.3% in males and 86.7% in females. The ERmRNA positive rates were almost the same in Borrmann Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ gastric carcinoma (P＞0.05). ERmRNA was expressed in all tubular adenocarcinoma, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma (P＜0.05). The ERmRNA positive rate was related to both regional lymph nodes metastases and gastric carcinoma growth patterns, and was higher in both sexes above 55 years old but without statistical significance (P＞0.05). The positive rate of ERmRNA expression by in situ hybridization was higher than that of ER expression by immunohistochemistry (P＜0.05).CONCLUSION: ERmRNA expression is related to the pathological behaviors of gastric carcinoma, which might help to predict the prognosis and predict the effectiveness of endocrine therapy for gastric carcinoma.

Clinical significance of expression of apoptotic signal proteins in gastric carcinoma tissue

AIM: To evaluate the expressions of apoptotic signal proteins FADD, TRADD, FasL, Fas, and NFκB in gastric carcinoma tissues and their clinical significance. METHODS: Western blot immune trace method was adopted to detect the expressions of apoptotic signal proteins FADD, TRADD, FasL, Fas, and NFκB in 55 tissue specimens of gastric carcinoma. RESULTS: Five apoptotic signal proteins had different expressions in the gastric carcinoma samples and their expressions were not correlated to age (P= 0.085). Expressions of the FADD, FasL, Fas, and NFkB proteins reduced with increase of the volume of tumor with the exception of increased expression the TRADD protein (64.7-71.1%, P= 0.031). With gradual increase of the malignancy of gastric carcinoma tissues, expressions of the FADD, FasL, and Fas proteins decreased (78.6-28.0%, P= 0.008; 78.6-65.9%, P= 0.071; 100.0-46.3%, P= 0.014), while expressions of the TRADD and NFkB proteins increased (42.9-78.1%, P= 0.063; 78.6-79.1%, P= 0.134). With gradual increase of serum CEA, expression of the FADD protein decreased (62.5-34.0%, P = 0.073), but expressions of the TRADD, FasL, Fas, and NFκB proteins increased (0.0-80.8%, P=0.005; 62.5-70.2%, P= 0.093; 0.0-70.2%, P=0.003; 62.5-80.9%, P= 0.075). When compared to the tissues of gastric carcinoma without metastasis, the positive rate of expressions of the FADD and FasL proteins increased, whereas expressions of the TRADD, FADD, and NFkB proteins decreased. There was no significant difference between them (P= 0.095). CONCLUSION: Gastric carcinoma is endurable to Fas-related apoptosis and apoptotic signal proteins are differently expressed in gastric carcinoma.