Expression of Stanniocalcin 1 as a Potential Biomarker of Gastric Cancer

Abstract

Objective: We investigated stanniocalcin 1 (STC 1) expression to assess its clinical utility as a blood marker in patients with gastric cancer and evaluated its biological impact in terms of tumor aggressiveness. Methods: Blood specimens from 93 patients with gastric cancer and 21 normal healthy volunteers were assessed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for STC 1 mRNA expression. Results: The relative numbers of STC 1 mRNA copies were significantly higher in gastric cancer cell lines and in blood specimens from patients with gastric cancer than in blood specimens from healthy volunteers (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.003, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of STC 1 mRNA expression for discriminating patients with gastric cancer from healthy volunteers were 69.9 and 71.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the sensitivity for STC 1 mRNA was higher than that for serum carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9. The presence of STC 1 expression was significantly correlated with depth of tumor invasion and tumor stage (p = 0.032 and p = 0.013, respectively). Conclusion: Our data strongly suggest that STC 1 is a potentially useful blood marker for predicting biological tumor aggressiveness in patients with gastric cancer.

Expression of Stanniocalcin-1 and Stanniocalcin-2 in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Correlations with Clinical and Pathological Parameters

“…We found significantly greater levels of STC1 and STC2 mRNA in the PB samples of LSCC patients than those of healthy volunteers. These data are consistent with observations reported for gastric cancer [16], [17], esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [18], and non-small cell lung cancer [12]. Furthermore, we investigated whether STC1 or STC2 levels in LSCC tumors were potential molecular markers of prognosis.…”

“…STC1 and STC2 are involved in various biological mechanisms of tumor progression [8], [11]–[14]. Both STC1 and STC2 are considered to be promising biomarkers, because their mRNA levels are elevated in the PB of cancer patients [12], [16]–[18]. However, little is known regarding the clinical significance of STC1 and STC2 expression levels in PB from patients with LSCC.…”

Integration of mRNA Expression Profile, Copy Number Alterations, and microRNA Expression Levels in Breast Cancer to Improve Grade Definition

“…This gene could be a target also of Hsa-miR-188-5p, already described in rectal cancer [118]. Hsa-miR-532-5p regulates also stanniocalcin 2 (STC2): it is a glycoprotein hormone that plays an important role in calcium and phosphate homeostasis and is considered a tumor progression predictor for gastric cancer [119] and breast carcinoma [120]. Concerning Hsa-miR-188-5p, it already results to be overexpressed in UVB irradiated mouse skin [121], suggesting a potential role of this miR in response to oxidative stress linked to radiation.…”

Expression of Stanniocalcin 1 in Thyroid Side Population Cells and Thyroid Cancer Cells

“…Mitochondrial localization of STC1 binding was also demonstrated using STC-alkaline phosphatase fusion protein in biochemical analyses and in situ ligand binding in nephron cells and liver hepatocytes (78). On the other hand, cytoplasmic STC1 staining was reported for human gastric cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, breast carcinomas, and ovarian carcinomas (32,34,36,79). In the current study, the pattern of STC1 expression as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry was highly variable; STC1 expression was low in normal mouse thyroid epithelial cells and was focally found in the cytoplasm of mouse adenomas, while relatively high expression was found in normal human thyroid follicular cells, both mainly found in nuclei.…”