Background: Gastric cancer may be considered the final step of a progressive imbalance between mucosal cell proliferation and apoptosis. CDC25 phosphatases comprise a multigene family, including CDC25A and CDC25B, that plays a crucial role in the control of cell cycle progression and has been linked to the development of human cancers. The role of CDC25 phosphatases in the pathogenesis of gastric cancers is, however, still largely unknown.
Material and methods: Immunohistochemical expression of CDC25A and CDC25B was investigated in matched normal and cancerous tissues from 70 patients with gastric cancer (52 intestinal and 18 diffuse type).
Results: In non-cancerous gastric tissues the expression of CDC25A and CDC25B was absent or weak. In gastric cancer tissues, the enhanced immunoreactivity of CDC25 phosphatases was independent of intestinal or diffuse type of gastric cancer. However, the intensity of immunostaining was related to the grade of differentiation of the tumors. Interestingly, c-myc expression was directly correlated with CDC25A and B expression.
Conclusions: The overexpression of CDC25A and B seems to be a common and very early event in the development of both intestinal and diffuse types of gastric cancer and may play an important role in gastric carcinogenesis.