p53, bcl-2 and thymidine phosphorylase as predictive markers of chemotherapy in patients with advanced and recurrent gastric cancer

• Published in: Anticancer research Vol. 21; no. 3C; p. 2149
• Main Authors: Kikuyama, S, Inada, T, Shimizu, K, Miyakita, M, Ogata, Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Greece 01.05.2001
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biomarkers, Tumor - biosynthesis; Cisplatin - administration & dosage; Doxorubicin - administration & dosage; Doxorubicin - analogs & derivatives; Female; Fluorouracil - administration & dosage; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Ki-67 Antigen - biosynthesis; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - drug therapy; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - biosynthesis; Stomach Neoplasms - drug therapy; Stomach Neoplasms - metabolism; Survival Rate; Thymidine Phosphorylase - biosynthesis; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - biosynthesis
• ISSN: 0250-7005

To study the relationship between expression of p53, bcl-2, thymidine phosphorylase and Ki-67 and the response to chemotherapy and survival in patients with recurrent and advanced gastric cancer. Protein expression was assessed immunohistochemically in 28 patients treated with 5-fluorouracil, pirarubicin and cisplatin (FAP). The response rate in patients positive for p53 expression was 23% compared with 47% of p53-negative patients. The response rate was also reduced from 44% in patients negative for bcl-2 protein expression to 25% in bcl-2 positive patients. Thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) expression was observed in 20 patients (71%), 50% of whom responded to chemotherapy, while patients negative for dThdPase expression did not respond to chemotherapy. The correlation between response rate and dThdPase-positivity was statistically significant (p < 0.05). However, with regard to patient survival, p53- and bcl-2-negative patients showed significantly better survival than patients positive for p53 and/or bcl-2 (p = 0.036). While dThdPase expression may be a useful predictor of response to chemotherapies that include 5-FU, p53 and bcl-2 expression may predict the outcome of patients with recurrent and advanced gastric cancer following chemotherapy.