Decreased expression of Bauhinia purpurea lectin is a predictor of gastric cancer recurrence

• Published in: Surgery today (Tokyo, Japan) Vol. 45; no. 10; pp. 1299 - 1306
• Main Authors: Futsukaichi, Takuro, Etoh, Tsuyoshi, Nakajima, Kentaro, Daa, Tsutomu, Shiroshita, Hidefumi, Shiraishi, Norio, Kitano, Seigo, Inomata, Masafumi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Aged; Analysis of Variance; Female; Humans; Lymphatic Metastasis; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnosis; Original Article; Plant Lectins - metabolism; Predictive Value of Tests; Protein Array Analysis - methods; Protein Binding; Stomach Neoplasms - diagnosis; Stomach Neoplasms - metabolism; Stomach Neoplasms - pathology; Surgery; Surgical Oncology; Recurrence; Lectin microarray; Gastric cancer; lectin; Glycan; Bauhinia purpurea lectin
• ISSN: 0941-1291; 1436-2813
• DOI: 10.1007/s00595-015-1127-1

Purpose Molecular markers as indicators for gastric cancer recurrence are urgently required. The aim of this study was to identify lectins that can be used to predict gastric cancer recurrence after gastrectomy. Methods We created lectin expression profiles by microarray analysis for 60 patients, who underwent surgery for gastric cancer at the Oita University Hospital between January, 2005 and December, 2007. Lectin expression and clinicopathological factors in patients who suffered gastric cancer recurrence and those who did not were compared by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results Thirteen lectins showed a significant increase in binding to cancer tissues, whereas 11 lectins showed a significant decrease in binding to cancer tissues, when compared with binding to normal epithelia. Multivariate analysis revealed that lymph node metastasis and low Bauhinia purpurea lectin (BPL)-binding signals were independent predictive factors for recurrence. All patients with low BPL expression had significantly worse relapse-free survival than those with high BPL expression. Conclusions Our results using a novel lectin microarray system provide the first solid evidence that BPL expression is a predictor of gastric cancer recurrence.