Expression and clinical significance of LIVIN and PTEN in gastric cancer

Objective To study the expression of LIVIN and PTEN in human gastric cancer and evaluate their clinical significance. Methods The expressions of LIVIN and PTEN were detected by immunohistochemical method in the tissues of 65 primary gastric cancer and 15 normal gastric mucosae. Results The positive expression rate of LIVIN in gastric cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues [73.85%(48165) vs 26.67%(4/15)], and the positive expression rate of PTEN was obviously lower than that in normal tissues [30.77%(20/65) vs 66.67%(10/15)](P < 0.05). The positive expressions of LIVIN and PTEN were closely correlated with tumor depth of gastric cancer, histological differentiation grade, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. The expressions of LIVIN and PTEN had a significant positive correlation (r = -0.362,P =0.003). Conclusion LIVIN and PTEN may play important roles in carcinogenesis of gastric cancer, which may be considered as reliable markers in clinical diagnosis and the prognosis of gastric cancer. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Immunohistochemistry; PTEN; LIVIN