Caveolin-1 is upregulated in gastric cancer and is associated with tumor progression and prognosis in patients.

BACKGROUND: Although some studies have reported on the expression of caveolin-1 (CAV-1) in gastric cancer, the role and clinical importance of CAV-1 in gastric cancer are still controversial. METHODS: In total, 154 paraffin-embedded gastric cancer tissue samples and 70 paired normal gastric tissue samples from the pathology department of our hospital were collected from January 2011 to December 2014. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of CAV-1 in gastric cancer and normal gastric tissue, and its relationship with various clinical pathological characteristics and the prognosis of gastric cancer was analyzed. RESULTS: Gastric cancer tissue expressed CAV-1 in 21.4% (33/154) of cases but it was not expressed in normal gastric tissue (0%, 0/70) (P<0.001). In patients with higher T stage (T3-T4) gastric cancer, the positive rate of CAV-1 was 24.6% (31/126), which was significantly higher than that in patients with T1-T2 cancer (7.1%, 2/28) (P=0.042). Moreover, among patients with preoperatively elevated levels of the tumor biomarker carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) (>37 U/ml), the positivity rate for CAV-1 was 34.6% (9/26), which was significantly higher than that in patients with low CA19-9 levels (16.9%, 20/118) (P=0.042). Survival analysis revealed that compared with patients with no CAV-1 expression in their gastric tumors, patients with CAV-1 expression in their gastric tumors had lower 5-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P>0.05). Multivariate analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model revealed that CAV-1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for 5-year RFS (hazard ratio=2.059, 95% confidence interval: 1.093-3.879, P=0.025) and OS (hazard ratio=1.924, 95% confidence interval: 1.002-3.696, P=0.049) in gastric cancer patients. CONCLUSION: High expression of CAV-1 in gastric cancer tissue is associated with poor prognosis and may be a potential biological marker for anti-gastric cancer treatment.