83 Background: Caveolin-1 (Cav-1), as the main component of caveolae, has complex roles in tumourigenesis and clinical outcomes in a variety of human malignancies. We investigated Cav-1 in primary and metastatic tumor of gastric cancer (GC) and its association with clinical outcomes. Methods: All specimens evaluated were obtained from 145 patients with GC who had undergone curative gastrectomy. The primary outcomes measured were the expression levels of Cav-1 by immunohistochemistry and its association with clinicopathological parameters and patient survival. Results: Among the 145 patients, the frequency of high expression of stromal Cav-1 within primary tumor and tumoral Cav-1 protein in metastatic lymph node were 22.5% (18/145) and 16.6% (15/91). In the multivariate analysis tumoral Cav-1 protein in metastatic lymph node showed prognostic significance for relapse-free survival (RFS, HR, 3.934; 95% CI, 1.882–8.224; P < 0.001) and cancer-specific survival outcome (CSS, HR, 3.985; 95% CI, 1.620 – 8.623; P = 0.002). In addition, it remained as a strong indicator of poor prognosis for RFS (HR, 3.137; 95% CI, 1.445 – 6.810; P = 0.004) and CSS (HR, 2.509; 95% CI, 1.079 – 5.838; P = 0.033). Conclusions: High expression of tumoral Cav-1 protein in metastatic lymph node shows a strong negative association with the clinical outcomes in patients with curatively resected GC, suggesting that this protein have potential uses as novel prognostic markers.
Prognostic Significance of Metastatic Lymph Node Ratio in Gastric Cancer