Expression and clinical significance of CD73 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in gastric carcinoma

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the expression of CD73 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in human gastric carcinoma, and explore their clinical significance and prognostic value. METHODS: CD73 and HIF-1α expressions were detected by immunohistochemistry in consecutive sections of tissue samples from 68 gastric carcinoma patients. The peritumor tissues 2 cm away from the tumor were obtained and served as controls. The presence of CD73 and HIF-1α was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using the Envision technique. RESULTS: CD73 and HIF-1α expressions in gastric carcinoma were significantly higher than those in gastric mucosal tissues as control (P < 0.001) and showed a close correlation (Spearman r = 0.390, P = 0.001). Overexpression of CD73 was positively correlated with differentiation of tumor (P = 0.000), histopathology (P = 0.041), depth of invasion (P < 0.001), nodal status (P = 0.003), metastasis (P = 0.013), and the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage (P < 0.001). High expression of HIF-1α was positively correlated with tumor diameter (P = 0.031), depth of invasion (P = 0.022), and AJCC stage (P = 0.035). The overall survival rate was low in the patients with high expression of CD73 (P < 0.001). Moreover, CD73+/HIF-1α+ patients had the worst prognosis (P < 0.001). CD73 expression was proven to be an independent predictor for patients with gastric carcinoma by both multivariate Cox regression analysis (P = 0.021) and receiver operating characteristic curves (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: CD73 expression correlates closely with HIF-1α expression in gastric carcinoma. CD73 could be an independent prognostic indicator for gastric carcinoma.