Expression of Jagged1 predicts postoperative clinical outcome of patients with gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Clinical significance of Notch1 activation in gastric cancer has been elucidated in our previous study, but the role of its ligands remains obscure. This study aims to evaluate the prognostic value of Jagged1 expression in patients with gastric cancer.

METHODS: We examined Jagged1 expression in tumor and nontumor tissues in retrospectively enrolled 302 patients with gastric cancer undergoing gastrectomy at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University in 2008 by immunohistochemical staining. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression models were used to evaluate the prognostic value of Jagged1 expression and its association with clinicopathological features. We created a predictive nomogram by integrating Jagged1 expression with the TNM staging system for overall survival of gastric cancer patients.

RESULTS: Jagged1 expression in gastric cancer was decreased compared with that in nontumor tissues. Low expression of Jagged1 in tumor and nontumor both predicted a dismal outcome. The Jagged1 risk derived from Jagged1 expression in tumor/nontumor tissue gave a further discrimination for the prognosis of gastric cancer patients. By Cox multivariate analysis, the Jagged1 risk was defined as an independent prognostic factor. The generated nomogram performed well in predicting the 3- and 5-year overall survival of gastric cancer patients.

CONCLUSION: Jagged1 is a potential prognostic biomarker for overall survival, which could be integrated with TNM stage to give a better risk stratification for gastric cancer patients.