Objective: To evaluate the relationship between netrin-1 protein, clinicopathologic features and prognosis in gastric cancer patients.
Methods: Tissue micro-array and immunohistochemistry were used to detect expression of netrin-1 protein and Ki67. And clinicopathological relevance of netrin-1 protein and Ki67 in gastric cancer were analyzed. Survival rates was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate the possibility of netrin-1 expression as an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer.
Results: The positive-expression rate of netrin-1 protein, paracancerous netrin-1 protein and Ki67 in tumor tissue from 67 patients with gastric cancer were 49%, 42% and 60%, respectively. netrin-1 protein expression might be related to depth of invasion, lymth node metastasis and distant metastasis (P<0.05). But no correlation was observed in sex, tumor diameter and tumor grade (P>0.05). There was correlation between different degrees of netrin-1 expression and distant metastases (P<0.05). No correlation was found in the expression of Ki67 and clinicopathological features. The correlation between the expression of netrin-1 and Ki67 was observed (r=0.359, P<0.05). Using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and the log-rank test, the correlation of netrin-1 expression, different degrees of netrin-1 expression and survival (P<0.05) were also observed. But netrin-1 expression was not significantly correlated with the prognosis of gastric cancer (RR = 1.335, 95% CI: 0.612-2.914).
Conclusion: netrin-1 protein may be related with tumorigenesis and tumor progression by affecting proliferation. The detection for netrin-1 may be helpful to evaluate the clinicopathological parameters and survival time. However, it is not an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer.