Published in:
01-11-2008 | Original Article
Activated Akt as an indicator of prognosis in gastric cancer
Authors:
Caterina Cinti, Carla Vindigni, Alessandra Zamparelli, Dario La Sala, Maria Carmela Epistolato, Daniele Marrelli, Gabriele Cevenini, Piero Tosi
Published in:
Virchows Archiv
|
Issue 5/2008
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Abstract
The immunohistochemical expression of phosphorylated (activated) Akt (pAkt) in 50 advanced gastric carcinomas has been analyzed and the results correlated with age, sex, location in the stomach, histotype, stage, survival, mitotic and apoptotic index, some cell cycle regulators (cyclin D1, cyclin E, p34/cdc2, p27/kip1), and cell proliferation. There was a statistically significant direct correlation between pAkt expression (both cytoplasmatic and nuclear) and depth of infiltration of the tumor, number of infiltrated lymph nodes and p34/cdc2 expression, and between prevalently nuclear pAkt and cyclin D1 and cyclin E. Conversely, there was a significant inverse correlation between nuclear pAkt and apoptotic index and between cytoplasmatic and nuclear pAkt and patient survival. No correlation was found between pAkt and sex, age, tumor location, histotype, mitotic index, and cell proliferation. These findings suggest that pAkt may be considered an indicator of tumor progression and patient survival in gastric cancer.