Aim: to investigate the expression of occludin mRNA and protein in the gastric cancer, to seek the relationship between the expression of occludin and tumor genesis and development.
Methods: the expression of occludin was examined in the gastric carcinoma by immunohistochemical technique with the tissue microarray and by real time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and to study the association of occludin expression and clinicopathological features in the gastric adenocarcinomas.
Results: the expression levels of occludin protein in the paraneoplastic normal gastric mucosa is obviously higher than that in the carcinoma(96.9% vs 85.4%, 84.6%, 89.2%, 78.5%)(P<0.05), the expression level in the gastric adenocarcinomas is related with the histologic differentiation and the grade of TNM (P<0.05). The real time fluorescence quantitative PCR show that the expression of occludin mRNA in the gastric cancer is not obviously different from that in paracancerous tissues (P>0.05).
Conclusions: the expression levels of occludin protein in the gastric adenocarcinomas is negative correlation with tumor genesis and development.