Expression of stromal cell-derived factor-1α is an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis in early gastric cancer

Abstract

Abstract. Lymph node metastasis is considered to be a significant prognostic factor for early gastric cancer (EGC). However, no real consensus exists on which patient and/ or tumor characteristics are associated with lymph node metastasis. We investigated whether stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1α expression correlates with lymph node metastasis in patients with EGC by immunohistochemically examining the expression of SDF-1α in 138 archival tissue specimens of EGC. Of these specimens, 59 (42.8%) and 79 (57.2%) were grouped into SDF-1α-positive and SDF-1α-negative groups, respectively. No significant differences existed with respect to age, gender, tumor location, proportion of tumors >20 mm in size, macroscopic type, depth of invasion or histology between the SDF-1α-positive and -negative groups. However, the SDF-1α-positive group was significantly correlated with lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis. Results of the univariate analyses indicated that lymphovascular invasion, undifferentiated histology and SDF-1α positivity were statistically significant risk factors affecting lymph node metastasis in patients with EGC. Multivariate analyses showed that lymphovascular invasion [hazard ratio (HR), 8.595; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.694-43.595; P=0.009], undifferentiated histology (HR, 2.965; 95% CI, 1.037-8.471; P=0.043) and SDF-1α positivity (HR, 2.108; 95% CI, 1.316-10.135; P=0.013) were independent risk factors predicting lymph node metastasis in EGC. In conclusion, these results suggest that SDF-1α expression in tumor cells is a predictive marker of lymph node metastasis in EGC.

Hypoxia induces CXCR4 expression and biological activity in gastric cancer cells through activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α

“…Chemokines and their receptors, particularly chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12) and its receptor chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4), have gained attention for their functional roles in the development and maintenance of the hematopoietic and immune systems, as well as in cancer metastasis and progression (4,(6)(7)(8). CXCR4 has been demonstrated to be upregulated in a variety of different cancer cell lines and in human cancers including breast, prostate, ovarian, lung, and gastric cancer.…”