Expression of nm23 in the primary tumor and the metastatic regional lymph nodes of patients with gastric cardiac cancer

Tumor recurrence and distant metastasis are major causes of treatment failu re in,gastric cardiac cancer (GCC). Rapid growth of tumor cells and reduced expression of nm23, a metastatic suppressor gene, in tumor cells have been suggested as two important mechanisms for disease progression of GCC, Ther efore, to determine the prognostic value of nm23 expression in GCC, we used immunohistochemistry to examine the expression of nm23 in the pathological sections of both gastric cancer and metastatic lymph nodes from 24 stage I II patients. Twenty-two patients had total gastrectomy, and two patients ha d proximal subtotal gastrectomy with a D2 dissection. Postoperative adjuvan t therapy was provided, and the clinical responses were followed routinely. Clinical correlation was evaluated by chi(2) with Fisher's exact test and survival by log-rank test, Our results show that the reduced nm23 expressio n in the primary tumor and in the nodal metastasis is the most useful marke r for the poor prognosis of GCC following surgery.