The clinical relevance of nm23 protein expression in resected gastric cancer patient

The aim of present study was to elucidate whether the expression of nm23 protein might be of clinical value as prognostic factor in gastric cancer. The expression of nm23 protein was analyzed using immunohistochemical method in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue samples of 76 gastric carcinoma patients. The cytoplasmic immunoreactivity of nm23 protein were detected in 53.9%(41/76). When the immunoreactivity of nm23 protein with TNM status and other histopathologic findings were compared by using Chi-Square test, nm23 was found to have correlations with the lymph node metastasis(p=0.04), the number of metastatic lymph node, and the invasion of lymphatic vessels(p=0.007). But, it has no correlation with TNM status. The conventional prognostic factors such as the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, Borrmann type, size of tumor, and the curability of operation was found to have strong correlation with the survival time(p<0.003). But, the expression of nm23 protein was not significantly correlated with that in survival analysis. These results showed that the expression of nm23 protein is not a useful prognostic indicator in gastric cancer.