Differential expression of two genes Oct-4 and MUC5AC associates with poor outcome in patients with gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer (GC) is the most frequent leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide that is linked to poor prognosis due to the lack of appropriate biomarkers. Our aim was to evaluate the MUC5AC and Oct-4 expression levels in GC and to assess their association with clinical factors. Immunohistochemical analysis (IHC) and qRT-PCR were performed in GC patients to examine the MUC5AC and Oct-4 expression levels. The mRNA level of MUC5AC was significantly decreased in tumour tissues compared with non-cancerous tissues (1.11 +/- 0.69 vs 3.7 +/- 0.71; P=.024). On the other hand, Oct-4 mRNA level was upregulated in tumour tissues as compared to normal tissues (2. 86 +/- 0.78 vs 0.87 +/- 0.54; P=.0015). Decreased expression of MUC5AC was detected in 27 patients (67.5%), while high to moderate expression levels were observed in 13 cases (32.5%), but in normal tissues the expression levels of MUC5AC were increased (P=.001). The decreased expression of MUC5AC was associated with aggressive tumour characteristics, such as TNM stage (P=.023), histologic type (P=.012) and lymph node metastasis (P=.001). High expression of Oct-4 was detected in 24 tumour tissues (60%), while 16 cases (40%) showed low expression level. Increased Oct-4 expression was correlated with clinicopathological characteristics such TNM stage (P=.002), histologic type (P=.008) and lymph node metastasis (P=.001). Our results showed that high Oct-4 expression and the reduction of MUC5AC expression may be involved in the progression and an unfavorable prognosis of GC.