The caspase-8 and procaspase-3 expression in gastric cancer and non-cancer mucosa in relation to clinico-morphological factors and some apoptosis-associated proteins

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the expression of caspase-8 and procaspase-3 proteins in gastric cancer (GC) cells and non-cancerous mucosa in relation to clinical and morphological characteristics of the tumor, postoperative survival as well as other apoptosis-related proteins.Materials and methods: The study included 91 GC patients. Expression of the proteins was assessed using immu-nohistochemical method.Results: Positive expression of procaspase-3 was found in all GC cells. A significant difference was found between high expression of this protein in cancer cells (70.3%) and non-cancerous mucosa (1.25%) (p <= 0.05). Caspase-8 expression was observed in 50.7% of GC cells and 46.7% of mucosa. Caspase-8 was more common in Lauren type II compared to Lauren type I cancer (p = 0.009), while a statistically significant difference was reported between positive procaspase-3 expression and differentiation of GC (p = 0.043) and Lauren's classification (p = 0.028). We observed a significant positive correlation between the expression of caspase-8 and bcl-xl (p = 0.030) as well as between the procaspase-3 and BID (p = 0.026). Positive caspase-8 expression was associated with longer survival of GC patients (p <= 0.01).Conclusions: Our findings indicate the potential role of the analyzed proteins in GC pathogenesis. Positive expression of caspase-8 is associated with longer survival and better patient prognosis.