The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of special AT-rich binding protein 1 (SATB1) and heparanase in human gastric cancer as well as its relationship to the clinicopathologic factors. Specimens from 102 patients who underwent radical gastrectomy between 2000 and 2002 were studied by immunohistochemistry for SATB1 and heparanase expression. SATB1 and heparanase were positively expressed in 48.0% and 51.0% of gastric cancer cases, respectively. The expression of SATB1 and heparanase was significantly correlated with the depth of invasion, tumor-node-metastatsis (TNM) stage, lymph node metastasis, whereas SATB1 expression was also significantly correlated with distant metastasis. Patients with SATB1-negative expression and heparanase-negative expression had higher survival rates than those with SATB1-positive or heparanase-positive expression. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between SATB1 and heparanase. In multivariable analysis, SATB1 expression was also identified as an independent prognostic indicator for gastric cancer. Our results suggest that combined analysis of SATB1 and heparanase expression may have significant value in determining invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer and assessing prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.

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