Relationship between the Expression of p16 Gene and the Phenotypes of Human Gastric Carcinomas

Background/Aims: To study the relationship between the expression of p16 gene and the phenotypes of human gastric carcinomas. Methods: 24 human gastric carcinoma specimens and the adjacent normal gastric mucosal tissues were determined by molecular pathologic methods. The expression of p16 gene was studied by Western blot assay. Results: Deleted p16 gene expression was found in 6 poorly-differentiated adenocarcinomas or signet ring cell carcinomas among the 24 human gastric carcinomas, in two, the p16 gene expression was suspicious, and in 5 well-differentiated carcinomas, it was over-expressed, while in the rest of 11 cases, there were no differences between cancer tissue and the normal gastric mucosal tissue. Conclusions: The expression of p16 gene in human gastric carcinomas may be either decreased or increased, and in many cases, the gastric carcinomatous tissue showed no difference as compared with the adjacent normal gastric mucosal tissue; the cases of decreased expression of p16 gene always belong to the poorly-differentiated ones or the signet ring cell carcinomas,which might be related to their poor prognosis.