Expression of ezrin protein in gastric cancer and its clinical significance

Objective To determine the expression of ezrin in gastric cancer tissues and discuss its clinical significance. Methods A total of 40 samples of gastric cancer and 30 specimens of adjacent normal tissues were obtained after surgical treatment, and confirmed by histopathological examinations. The expression of ezrin was detected by immunohistochemistry using SP staining. The relations of the ezrin expression to the age and sex of the patients, diameter of the tumor, levels of tumor invasion and differentiation, and lymph node metastasis status were analyzed. Results The positive rate of expression of ezrin was 55% in the gastric cancer tissues, which was significantly higher than that in the adjacent normal tissues (0, χ2 = 18.07, P 0.05). In the gastric cancer group, the rate was 30% (3/10), 53% (10/19), or 82% (9/11) respectively in the highly, moderately, or lowly differentiated cancer tissues (χ2 = 5.760, P 0.05). The positive rate of ezrin in the cases with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher than that in the cases without lymph node metastasis [72.7% (16/22) vs 33.3% (6/18), χ2 = 6.208, P 0.05]. No relationship was detected between the ezrin expression and the age and sex of the patients, and the volume and invasion level of the gastric tumor (P 0.05). Conclusions Ezrin is overexpressed in gastric carcinoma and the expression is negatively associated with the Ducks stage and pathological grade of the carcinoma. The results indicate that ezrin play an important role in the etiology and development of gastric carcinoma.