Relationship between expressions of apoptosis-related proteins and chemosensitivities in gastric cancer

Objective To investigate the relationship between expression of apoptosis-related proteins and chemosensitivities in gastric carcinoma.Methods The expression levels of Survivin,B lymphocytes/leukemia-2 (bcl-2) and bax were determined immunohistochemically,and the chemosenisitivities of 9 drugs were measured by nethyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay in 64 tissue specimens of gastric carcinomas.Results The positive rate of Survivin,bcl-2 and bax was 90.6％,75.0％ and 68.8％ respectively.There was negatively significant correlations hetween the expression of Survivin and bax,and bcl-2 and bax (r =-0.45044,-0.41403,both P ＜ 0.01 ). In terms of relationship between the expression of Survivin,bcl-2,bax and inhihition rate of tumor cells,the inhibition rate for epirubicin (eADM) and cisplatin (DDP) in Survivin strong expression group was lower than that in weak group (both P ＜0.05 ),but for oxaliplatin (L-OHP) the inhibition rate was increased ( P ＜0.05).The inhibition rate to 5-fluorouraeil (5-Fu),paclitaxel (PTX) and eADM was significantly lower in the bcl-2 strong expression group than the weak group (all P ＜0.05 ).There was higher inhibition rate for 5-Fu,eADM,L-OHP and methotrexate (MTX) in bax strong expression group ( all P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusion The expression of apoptosis-related proteins in gastric carcinoma was associated with the chemosensitivities of parts of drugs. Key words: Gastric carcinoma; Multidrugs resistance; Apoptosis-related proteins; Chemosensitivity test in vitro