PLoS ONE (Jan 2015)

LAPTM4B-35, a cancer-related gene, is associated with poor prognosis in TNM stages I-III gastric cancer patients.

  • Xiaojing Cheng,
  • Zhixue Zheng,
  • Zhaode Bu,
  • Xiaojiang Wu,
  • Lianhai Zhang,
  • Xiaofang Xing,
  • Xiaohong Wang,
  • Ying Hu,
  • Hong Du,
  • Lin Li,
  • Shen Li,
  • Rouli Zhou,
  • Xian-Zi Wen,
  • Jia-Fu Ji

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121559
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 4
p. e0121559

Abstract

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Lysosome-associated transmembrane protein 4β-35 (LAPTM4B-35), a member of the mammalian 4-tetratransmembrane spanning protein superfamily, has been reported to be overexpressed in several cancers. However the expression of LAPTM4B-35 and its role in the progression of gastric cancer (GC) remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate LAPTM4B-35 expression in GC, its potential relevance to clinicopathologic parameters and role of LAPTM4B-35 during gastric carcinogenesis.In the present study, paraffin-embedded specimens with GC (n = 240, including 180 paired specimens) and 24 paired fresh frozen tissues were analyzed. qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to analyze the expression of LAPTM4B-35 in GC. The effects of LAPTM4B-35 on GC cell proliferation, migration and invasion were determined by overexpression and knockdown assays.IHC showed that LAPTM4B-35 was expressed in 68.3% (123/180) of GC tissues, while in 16.1% (29/180) of their paired adjacent noncancerous gastric tissues (P = 0.000). LAPTM4B-35 mRNA levels in GC tissues were also significantly elevated when compared with their paired adjacent noncancerous tissues (P = 0.017). Overexpression of LAPTM4B-35 was significantly associated with degree of differentiation, depth of invasion, lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed that patients with LAPTM4B-35 expression had a significant decrease in overall survival (OS) in stages I-III GC patients (P = 0.006). Multivariate analysis showed high expression of LAPTM4B-35 was an independent prognostic factor for OS in stage I-III GC patients (P = 0.025).These findings indicate that LAPTM4B-35 overexpression may be related to GC progression and poor prognosis, and thus may serve as a new prediction marker of prognosis in GC patients.