Clinical Significance of INHBA Gene Expression in Patients with Gastric Cancer who Receive Curative Resection Followed by Adjuvant S-1 Chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Standard treatment for stage II/III gastric cancer is curative resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. However, the five-year survival remains unsatisfactory. Inhibin βA (INHBA) has been reported to be associated with cancer cell proliferation and chemoresistance.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied the clinical significance of INHBA gene expression in 134 patients with stage II/III gastric cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1. INHBA expression of specimens of cancer tissue and adjacent normal mucosa was measured by quantitative real-time, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTS: INHBA expression levels were significantly higher in cancer tissue than in adjacent normal mucosa. High INHBA expression was associated with significantly poorer 5-year survival than was low expression. On multivariate analysis, INHBA expression was an independent prognostic factor.

CONCLUSION: INHBA gene expression in gastric cancer tissue is considered a useful independent predictor of outcomes in patients with stage II/III gastric cancer who receive adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1.