Expression Of TFF1 And MUC-5AC In Gastric Cancer, Precancerous Lesions And Its Significance

Background and objectiveGastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors and it's a leading cause of the death among all the malignant tumors in our country. Pathogenesis of GC remains unclear. In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to trefoil factor family (TFFs) and mucins (MUC) in the gastric carcinogenesis. Trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) is a member of TFFs, which have specific trefoil-formed region that keeps the molecule stable and resistant to heat, acid and protease. Mucin-5AC (MUC-5AC) is one of the mucins which known as protective proteins for the mucosa. It distributes widely on the mucosal surface of ovarian, gastrointestinal tract, etc. TFF1 and MUC-5AC bind together firmly and form a layer of mucus gel with high consistency in stomach. They protect the mucosa against many kinds of injurants. The relationship between the two genes and gastric cancer is still unclear. In our country, the reports of the relationship between the expression of the two genes and the pathological factors in gastric cancer are rare. So, we detected the expression of TFF1 and MUC-5AC in intestinal metaplasia(IM), dysplasia(DYS) and gastric cancer(GC) by immunohistochemistry , to explore the roles of TFF1 and MUC-5AC in genesis and development of gastric carcinoma and the association with clinical pathological factors.MethodsThe expression of TFF1 and MUC-5AC was detected by immunohistochemical S-P method in 120 gastric specimens including 20 normal gastric mucosa(NGM), 20 chronical atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia(IM), 20 dysplasia(DYS), 15 early gastric cancer(EGC) and 45 advanced gastric cancer(AGC).