The relationship between Lin28 and the chemotherapy response of gastric cancer

Abstract

Rong Yue Teng,1,* Ji Chun Zhou,1,* Zi Nong Jiang,2 Chao Yang Xu,3 Zi Duo Li,1 Qing Chuan Wang,1 Chen Pu Xu,1 Ju Feng Guo,1 Jian Guo Shen,1 Lin Bo Wang1,4 1Department of Surgical Oncology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 2Department of Pathology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 3Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Shaoxing People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shaoxing Liberal Art College, Shaoxing, 4Biomedical Research Center and Key Laboratory of Biotherapy of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: The aim of the study reported here was to identify whether a stem cell biomarker, Lin28, may predict the pathologic tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced gastric cancer. Methods: The study enrolled 47 patients with gastric cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery between July 2004 and March 2012. Cancer tissue was biopsied by gastroscopy and Lin28 expression in the tissue was measured by immunohistochemistry. Statistical analyses were performed to identify the relationship between Lin28 expression and tumor regression grade. Results: Of the 47 cases, pathologic nonresponse was observed in 29 (61.7%) and pathologic response in 18 (38.3%). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the histoscore of Lin28 expression with 0.325 as a cutoff value could differentiate between pathologic response and nonresponse. Multivariable analysis showed that Lin28 expression was an independent predictive factor for pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.006). Conclusion: Lin28 expression was associated with pathologic tumor response in locally advanced gastric cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This may suggest that Lin28 can serve as a predictive biomarker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer. Keywords: neoadjuvant chemotherapy, pathologic tumor response, stem cell biomarker, immunohistochemistry