Abstract:

Objective To investigate the expression of LRP15 gene in gastric cancer and its relationship with clinical features and prognosis. Methods The expression of LRP15 gene was detected using immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays containing 90 specimens of gastric cancer and paired adjacent normal mucosa tissues. Survival curves were plotted using Kaplan-Meier method， and Cox regression model to evaluate the independent prognostic factors. Results The LRP15 expression was lower in the tumor tissue compared with that in the adjacent normal mucosa tissue （0.563±0.046 vs. 0.822±0.054， P＜0.001）. According to the ratio of the expression of LRP15 in cancer tissues and that in adjacent tissues were divided into two groups： high-expression group （ratio≥0.5， n=51） and low-expression group （ratio＜0.5， n=39）. LRP15 expression was statistically correlated with the tumor size （P=0.038） and lymph node metastasis （P=0.003）， but not with gender， age， tumor location， differentiation， tumor location， gross type， TNM stage and depth of invasion. The Kaplan-Meier method showed that patients with LRP15 low-expression had a significantly shorter median overall survival compared with the patients with highexpression （27.6 vs 37.3 months， P=0.040）. Cox-multivariate analysis revealed that the expression of LRP15 in cancer tissue，ratio of expression between cancer tissue and adjacent normal mucosa tissues，lymph node metastasis and depth of invasion were both independent prognostic factors.Conclusion LRP15 expression may have an important function in cell growth and is significantly associated with lymph node metastasis. LRP15 can be considered as biomarkers of prognosis and as a new target for gastric cancer therapy.