Relationship between laminin and laminin receptor expressions and invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the relationship between laminin (LN) and LN receptor (LN-R) expressions and gastric carcinoma invasion and metastasis.METHODS:The LN and LN-R expressions in 68 cases of human gastric carcinoma were examined by useing the immunohistochemical S-P methods and the expressions were analyzed with their relation to invasion and metastasis.RESULTS:LN positive expression in lymph node metastasis group was lower than that in negative lymph node metastasis group,P0.01, but the relation to other groups was not significant,P 0.05. The positive rate of LN-R gradually raised with the decline of tumor cell differentiated level and the increase of invasive depth P0.01. LN-R expression was significantly higher in positive lymph node metastasis group than that in negative lymph node metastasis group,P0.001. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that lower expression of LN is related to metastasis of gastric carcinoma, and higher expression of LN-R is correlated with differention level,depth of invasion and metastasis. LN and LN-R expressions are important biofactors for predicting the prognosis of gastric carcinomas.