Relationship Between Gastric Cancer Tau Protein Expression and Paclitaxel Sensitivity

• Published in: Pathology oncology research Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 429 - 435
• Main Authors: Wang, Qiong, Wang, Nanyao, Shao, Guoyi, Qian, Jianzhong, Shen, Dong, Fei, Yanhua, Mao, Weidong, Wu, Dan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.07.2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis of Variance; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Apoptosis - drug effects; Biomarkers, Tumor - biosynthesis; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Blotting, Western; Cancer Research; Cell Line, Tumor; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Female; Gastric cancer; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Immunology; Male; Middle Aged; Oncology; Paclitaxel - pharmacology; Paraffin Embedding; Pathology; Stomach Neoplasms - drug therapy; Stomach Neoplasms - metabolism; Stomach Neoplasms - pathology; tau Proteins - biosynthesis; tau Proteins - metabolism; Sensitivity; Gastric cancer; protein; Paclitaxel
• ISSN: 1219-4956; 1532-2807
• DOI: 10.1007/s12253-012-9598-5

The abnormal expression of Tau protein in breast cancer tissue affects paclitaxel sensitivity. The abnormal expression also exists in gastric carcinoma. Therefore, we speculate that the expression levels of Tau protein is closely related to paclitaxel sensitivity in gastric cancer, thus affecting the efficacy of paclitaxel. In this study, we used immunohistochemical methods to detect Tau protein expression levels in 47 cases of gastric cancer specimens. We also used Western blot to detect the level of Tau protein expression in gastric cancer cell lines and to check the efficacy of paclitaxel in vitro application. Findings indicate that Tau protein expression rate can reach as high as (+ +–+ + +) 63.83 % in gastric cancer. Paclitaxel induces inhibition and apoptosis with low expression of Tau protein in gastric cancer cell lines ( P  < 0.05). The level of Tau protein expression is significantly correlated with paclitaxel efficacy. If confirmed by further studies, the Tau protein can be another useful marker of gastric cancer, thereby leading to the application of paclitaxel in cancer treatment.