Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers with one of the highest mortality rates. Unfortunately, underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to GC have not been fully illuminated. PABPC1 is involved in a series of processes, such as mRNA translation, and mRNA deadenylation and decay. We performed this study to clarify the role of PABPC1 in GC.
Methods: To evaluate PABPC1 expressions in GC and normal tissues, we performed bioinformatics analysis of data from TCGA. PABPC1 expressions were evaluated by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of 170 GC specimens. Associations between PABPC1 expression and clinicopathological variables were analyzed. Independent predictive factors for survival of GC patients were determined by Cox regression analysis.
Results: It was revealed by bioinformatics analysis that compared with normal gastric tissues, PABPC1 expressions in GC tissues were significantly higher (P=0.002, paired) (P=3.605e^-9, unpaired). It was revealed that PABPC1 expression was significantly associated with tumor size (P=0.008), Borrmann classification (P=0.003), vessel invasion (P=0.017), depth of invasion (P=0.032), lymph node metastasis (P=0.001), and TNM stage (P=0.019). It was demonstrated through Cox regression analysis that PABPC1 expression was a predictive factor for both overall survival (OS) (P<0.001) and disease-free survival (DFS) (P<0.001) of GC patients.
Conclusions: Compared with that of normal gastric tissue, expression level of PABPC1 in GC tissue was significantly higher and PABPC1,s high expression was significantly associated with poorer survival, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic biomarker for GC.