Expression of phosphatase regenerating liver 3 is an independent prognostic indicator for gastric cancer

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the prognostic significance of phosphatase regenerating liver 3 (PRL-3) protein expression in gastric cancer. Methods: PRL-3 expression in paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 293 patients with gastric cancer was studied retrospectively by immunohistochemistry. Monoclonal antibody specifically against PRL-3, 3B6, was obtained with hybridoma technique. Results: Positive PRL-3 expression was detected in 43.3% (127 of 293) of gastric cancer cases. High expression of PRL-3 was positively correlated with tumor size, depth of invasion, vascular/lymphatic invasion, lymph node metastasis, high TNM stage and tumor recurrence. Patients with positive PRL-3 expression had a significantly lower 5-year survival rate than those with negative expression (28.3% vs 51.9%, P < 0.0001). Patients who received curative surgery, and with positive PRL-3 expression had a significant shorter overall survival and disease-free disadvantage over patients with negative expression (hazard ratio of 16.7 and 16.6, respectively; P < 0.0001 for both). Multivariate analysis revealed that PRL-3 expression was an independent prognostic indicator for overall and disease-free survival of gastric cancer patients, particularly for survival in TNM stage III patients. Conclusion: PRL-3 expression is a new independent prognostic indicator to predict the potential of recurrence and survival in patients with gastric cancer at the time of tumor resection. © 2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.