Background: Gastric adenocarcinomas comprise one of the common types of cancers in Asian countries including Japan. Comprehensive protein profiling of paired surgical specimens of primary gastric adenocarcinomas and nontumor mucosae derived from Japanese patients was carried out by means of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-EP) and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionic tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) to establish gastric cancer-specific proteins as putative clinical biomarkers and molecular targets for chemotherapy.
Results: Relatively common alterations in protein expression were revealed in the tumor tissues. Increases in manganese dismutase and nonhistone chromosomal protein HMG-1 (HMG-1) were observed, while decreases in carbonic anhydrases I and II, glutatione-S-transferase and foveolin precursor (gastrokine-1) (FOV), an 18-kDa stomach-specific protein with putative tumor suppressor activity, were detected. RT-PCR analysis also revealed significant down-regulation of FOV mRNA expression in tumor tissues.
Conclusion: A possible pathological role for down-regulation of FOV in gastric carcinogenesis was demonstrated. Evaluation of the specific decreases in gene and protein expression of FOV in patients may be utilized as clinical biomarkers for effective diagnosis and assessment of gastric cancer.