Objective: To investigate the expression status of CXCR7 in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines.
Methods: The expression status of CXCR7 was detected in 35 primary gastric cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. The correlation of CXCR7 expression with the clinicopathological parameters and risk factors of gastric cancer was analyzed. The expression of CXCR7 in gastric cell lines (HGC-27, MGC-803, BGC-823, SGC-7901 and MKN-28) was also detected by immunofluorescence assay.
Results: The expression of CXCR7 was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in adjacent tissues (P<0.01). CXCR7 expression was not correlated with age, gender, smoking history, Helicobacter pylori infection, tumor location or the pathological type, but showed a higher expression level in patients with a alcohol-drinking history than in those without (P<0.05). CXCR7 was expressed with variable intensities in the 5 gastric cancer cell lines without correlation with the degrees of cell differentiation; its expression was the highest in SGC-7901 cells, a moderately differentiated human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line.
Conclusions: CXCR7 is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues with variable intensities in 5 gastric cancer cell lines, suggesting its important role in gastric cancer progression.