The Expression Of ETV4 In Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor And Its Significance

Objective:Gastrointestinal stromal tumors(gastrointestinal stromal tumors,GISTs)are derived from mesenchymal tissue,and some GISTs are highly malignant.Tumors are usually graded with risk rank in the clinic,but the degree of malignancy of GIST is still controversial and limited.Therefore,we need to explore new biological indicators to judge the biological behavior of GIST more accurately.ETS is one of the largest family of transcriptional regulators.ETV4 is a member of polyoma enhancer activator 3(PEA3)family of the ETS subfamily.ETV4 is involved in multiple signaling pathways and plays an important role in cell growth,and metastasis.In this experiment,by detecting the expression of ETV4 in GISTs,we investigate the relationship of the expression of ETV4 in GISTs with clinicopathological factors such as risk rank of GISTs,and the relationship between ETV4 and C-KIT,platelet-derived growth factor receptors-?(PDGFR-?)gene in GISTs.Methods:From 2012 to February 2018,91 paraffin samples of GISTs were obtained from patients who were diagnosed with GIST and had complete clinicopathological data in the pathology department of the first affiliated hospital of China Medical University.Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess ETV4 expressions in 91 GISTs,and 91 GISTs were sequenced by direct sequencing.Results:ETV4 was strongly positive in 39 cases(42.9%)in GIST tissues,moderately positive in 34 cases(37.4%)and weakly positive in 18 cases(19.8%).The expression level of ETV4 in GIST was independent of patient sex,age,site of occurrence,histological type(P > 0.05),but correlated with tumor size,tumor mitotic count,proliferation index of Ki67 and metastasis to liver(P < 0.05).The expression of ETV4 was positively correlated with the risk rank of GISTs(r = 0.387,P < 0.001).In addition,the expression of ETV4 was positively correlated with the C-KIT gene mutation(r = 0.324,P = 0.008),and the expression of ETV4 was positively correlated with the mutation type of GISTs(r = 0.325,P = 0.005).However,the expression of ETV4 was not associated with PDGFR-? gene mutation(P > 0.05).Conclusion:ETV4 promote GIST cell proliferation and migration.Therefore,in addition to relying on risk to predict the biological characteristics of GIST,ETV4 transcription factors can also be used as important indicators to comprehensively judge the degree of malignancy of GIST,which is more helpful for clinical treatment.Moreover,ETV4 expression was significantly positively correlated with C-KIT mutant GIST,which may be involved in C-KIT signaling pathways and provide new therapeutic directions and ideas for GIST treatment.