위암 절제조직에서 nm23 단백질 발현의 임상적 의의

The Clinical Eelevance of nm23 Protein Expression in Resected Gastric Cancer Patient

위암환자에서 nm23 단백질이 예후인자로서의 영향을 규명하기 위해 위절제술로 얻어진 76명의 원발암 조직에 대해서 nm23 단백질의 단세포군 항체를 이용한 면역조직화학적 염색을 실시한 결과 nm23 단백질의 양성발현율은 53.9% (23/76)였다. 병리조직학적 소견들과의 비교에서 nm23 단백질의 양성발현율은 조기암보다 진행암에서, 림프절 전이 양성군에서, 그리고 암세포의 림프관 침습이 있을때 높게 나타났으며 유의한 차이가 있었다. nm23 단백질의 발현유무가 재발과 관련이 있는지에 때한 분석 결과 재발율에서 차이가 없었다. nm23 단백질 발현 유무가 생존기간에 영향을 끼치는가에 대한 단변량 분석결과 생존과 관련이 없는 것으로 나타났다. 이상의 결과로 nm23 단백질의 양성발현 여부를 예후인자로 사용하기는 어려울 것으로 사료된다.

The aim of present study was to elucidate whether the expression of nm23 protein might be of clinical value as a prognostic factor in gastric cancer. The expression of nm23 protein was analyzed using an immunohistochemical method with formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded tissue samples from 76 gastric carcinoma patients. The cytoplasmic immunoreactivity of nm23 protein were detected in 53.9% of the sample tissues(41/76). When the immunoreactivity of nm23 protein with TNM status and other histopathologic findings were compared by using Chi-Square test, nm23 was found to have correlations with lymph node metastasis(p=0.04), a number of metastatic lymph node, and the invasion of lymphatic vessels(p=0.007); however, it had no correlation with TNM status. The conventional prognostic factors such as the depth of invasion, the degree of lymph node metastasis and the presence of distant metastasis, a Borrmann type, size of tumor, and the curability with operation were found to have a strong correlation with the survival time(p<0.003). However, the expression of nm23 protein was not significantly correlated with survival time in survival analysis. These results showed that the expression of nm23 protein is not a useful prognostic indicator in gastric cancer.