ObjectiveFlotillin gene is known as a tumor promoter or suppressor, depending on the tumor type or tumor stage. We aimed to investigate the clinical significance of flotillin2 protein expression in gastric cancer.MethodsWe examined flotillin2 and erbB2 levels in tissue microarray of 282 gastric cancer samples and analyzed the association between flotillin2 levels, clinicopathologic factors and prognosis. The regulation of erbB2 by flotillin2 was examined with flotillin2 siRNA–transfected gastric cancer cells.ResultsFlotillin2 partially co-localized with erbB2 at the plasma membrane as detected by confocal microscopy, levels of erbB2 were reduced after flotillin knockdown in SGC-7901 cancer cells, and the expression of flotillin2 was positively correlated with that of erbB2. In non-neoplastic gastric mucosa, flotillin2 was not expressed in the epithelial compartment. In gastric cancer, positive staining of flotillin2 was shown in 129 (45.7%) of 282 cases, also, it was significantly associated with a Lauren grade, histologic type, lymphovascular invasion and tumor location. Moreover, survival analysis showed that flotillin2 expression was an independent prognostic factor of poor survival (p<0.001).ConclusionsThese results indicate that a positive correlation exists between flotillin2 and erbB2 expression levels, flotillin2 maybe involved in the stabilization of erbB2 at the plasma membrane, flotillin2 is significantly correlated with cancer progression and poor prognosis in gastric cancer.

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BackgroundPeritoneal metastasis frequently occurs in patients with advanced ovarian cancer and is the main basis for a poor prognosis. The mechanism underlying preferential ovarian cancer spread to the peritoneum is not well understood.MethodsHerein, we investigated the significance and mechanism underlying fibrosis of mesothelial cells promoting peritoneal implantation of ovarian cancer. We have assessed the mesothelial cell fibroblast transformation process in peritoneal tissues of omentum and fibrotic mesothelial cell release of chemokines to promote dissemination by scanning electron microscopy, ELISA, Western blot, and Transwell chamber assay.ResultsWe showed that the fibrosis of mesothelial cells exists in the peritoneum of ovarian cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis. Fibrosis of the mesothelial cells was induced by TGF-β1, which upregulates the CXCL12–CXCR4 and CXCL16–CXCR6 axes of mesothelial cells.ConclusionCXCL12–CXCR4 and CXCL16–CXCR6 may be important signaling pathways closely involved in peritoneal metastasis of ovarian cancer that require further investigation. The findings may lead to developing alternative strategies aimed at preventing and treating the metastasis of ovarian cancer.

BackgroundThe aim of our study was to evaluate the histological characteristics and prognosis of gastric cancer.MethodsClinicopathlogical variables of 932 patients with gastric carcinoma admitted to the Department of Surgical Oncology at the First Hospital of China Medical University were analyzed retrospectively. Different histological characteristics of gastric cancer were summarized and assigned score according to the malignancy defined by WHO classification, the scores were stratified into 4 stage, the prognosis of different stages were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and cox regression.ResultsAmong the 932 patients, 246 (26.39%) had mixed histology type of gastric cancer. Compared to the pure histological type, mixed histological type of gastric cancer was significant associated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis and depth of invasion (all P < 0.05). The 5-year survival rates of advanced and early gastric cancer patients with mixed type were 40.8% and 83.5% respectively, which were lower than those with pure type (50.0% and 95.8%, P < 0.01). Statistically significant difference with stratification of early and advanced stage could be observed between patients with the histological grading score. The data showed that the histological score could be the independent factor of prognosis.ConclusionsThe histological score is an independent factor of gastric cancer, it exerts an excellent ability to classify survival of patients with gastric carcinoma. It also provides a new strategy and parameter for evaluating the biological behavior and prognosis of gastric cancer.