Background: CXCR4 and RKIP have been implicated in initiation and progression in many cancers, but their role in gastric adenocarcinoma remains vague.
Aim: The aim of this work is to assess the possible significance of both markers in gastric adenocarcinoma and premalignant lesions of the stomach.
Methods: This retrospective study was carried upon 50 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma and 20 of premalignant lesions. Immunohistochemistry was performed to examine the expression of CXCR4 and RKIP in both gastric adenocarcinoma and premalignant lesions of the stomach.
Results: CXCR4 was found to be highly expressed in gastric adenocarcinoma compared to premalignant lesions (P value=0.027). It was significantly correlated with tumor grade (P value=0.027), depth of tumor invasion (P value=0.019), lymph node metastasis (P value=0.025), distant metastasis (P value=0.044) and TNM stage (P value=0.002). No statistically significant correlation between CXCR4 expression and histopathological types (P value=0.8). RKIP expression has no significant correlation with progression from premalignant gastric lesions to adenocarcinoma (P value=0.078). RKIP was negatively associated with advanced tumor grade (P value=0.001), depth of invasion (P value=0.018), distant metastasis (P value=0.029) and TNM stage (P value=0.007). No statistically significant correlation between RKIP expression and histopathological types (P value=0.17) and lymph node status (P value=0.053). No significant correlation between CXCR4 and RKIP expression in studied cases was detected (P value=0.178).
Conclusions: These results suggested that CXCR4 might be involved in gastric carcinogenesis.
Keyword: Gastric adenocarcinoma, premalignant, CXCR4, RKIP.