Background Due to proliferation and increased metabolism, cancer cells have high glucose requirements. The glucose uptake of cells is influenced by a group of membrane proteins denoted the glucose transporter family (Glut-1 to -12). Whereas increased expression and a negative correlation with survival have been described for Glut-1 in several types of cancer, the impact of other glucose transporters on tumor biology is widely unknown. Methods In this retrospective study, gastric cancer specimens of 150 patients who underwent total gastrectomy between 2005 and 2010 were stained for Glut-1, -3, -6, and -10 by immunohistochemistry. Expression of Glut-1, -3, -6, and 10 was correlated to prognosis as well as clinical and pathological parameters. Results Glut-1, Glut-3, Glut-6, and Glut-10 were expressed in 22.0, 66.0, 38.0, and 43.3 % of the analyzed samples. Whereas Glut-1, -6, and -10 did not show a correlation with prognosis, positive staining for Glut-3 was associated with higher UICC stage and inferior prognosis. The mean overall survival was 38.6 months for Glut-3 positive patients, as compared to 51.2 months for Glut-3 negative patients (p \ 0.05). Coexpression of two or more of the analyzed glucose transporters was correlated to inferior prognosis. Glut-3 and UICC stage were significant prognostic factors in multivariate analysis. Conclusions All of the analyzed glucose transporters were expressed in a significant proportion of the gastric cancer samples. Glut-3 was associated with higher UICC stage and inferior prognosis. These findings are relevant to therapeutic approaches that target glucose metabolism as well as to imaging using radioactively labeled glucose.

The TIMP-2(303C>T) CC genotype is associated with higher pN and pM categories and, in contrast to previous studies, with worse survival in gastric cancer.

It is not only the surgery that determines a high or low complication rate in oesophageal resectional procedures. It has clearly been proved that interdisciplinary management of complications after oesophagectomy is much more effective in high-volume centres, leading to a lower mortality, than in surgical departments with a lower case rate and thus with less experience in such complex operations.

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