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http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2012.13.7.3173

Prognostic Significance of Overexpression of EZH2 and H3k27me3 Proteins in Gastric Cancer  

He, Long-Jun (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Cai, Mu-Yan (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Xu, Guo-Liang (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Li, Jian-Jun (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Weng, Zi-Jin (Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University)
Xu, Da-Zhi (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Luo, Guang-Yu (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Zhu, Sen-Lin (Department of Pathology, the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University)
Xie, Dan (The State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China)
Publication Information
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention / v.13, no.7, 2012 , pp. 3173-3178 More about this Journal
Abstract
The enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) methyl transferase and histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) protein can repress gene transcription, and their aberrant expression has been observed in various human cancers. This study determined their expression levels in gastric cancer tissues with reference to clinicopathological features and patient survival. We collected 117 gastric cancer and corresponding normal tissues for immunohistochemistry analysis. In gastric cancers, 82/117 (70.1%) were positive for EZH2 and 66/117 (56.4%) for H3K27me3 proteins in contrast to only 5.41% and 7.25% of normal gastric mucosa specimens, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival data showed the average overall and disease-free survival of EZH2 high expression patients was 25.2 and 20.2 months, respectively, shorter than that with EZH2 low expression (40.5 and 35.9 months). The average overall survival and disease-free survival of high H3K27me3 expression patients was 23.4 and 17.4 months, shorter than without H3K27me3 expression (37.6 and 34.5 months). The average overall survival and disease-free survival of patients with both EZH2 and H3K27me3 expression was 18.8 and 12.9 months, respectively, shorter than that with either alone (34.7 and 31.2 months) or with low levels of both (43.9 and 39.9 months). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that H3K27me3 and EZH2 expression, tumor size differentiation and clinical stage were all independent prognostic factors for predicting patient survival. This study demonstrated that detection of both EZH2 and H3K27me3 proteins can predict poor survival of gastric cancer patients, superior to single protein detection. In addition, H3K27me3 and EZH2 protein expression could predict lymph node metastasis.
Keywords
Gastric cancer; prognosis; enhancer of zeste homolog 2; trimethylation of lysine 27 on histone H3;
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