Gastric cancer is a common human cancer worldwide. Fibronectin is an important extracellular matrix protein that has been implicated in many cancers and is known to be associated with proliferation and migration. Fibronectin type III domain containing 1 (FNDC1) contains a major component of the structural domain of fibronectin. The objectives of the present study were to measure FNDC1 expression in gastric cancer tissues and evaluate its value as a potential prognostic marker for gastric cancer. FNDC1 protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 98 samples of gastric cancer tissue and 25 adjacent normal tissues. The associations between FNDC1 level and various clinicopathological characteristics were assessed, and the correlation between FNDC1 expression levels and prognosis of patients with gastric cancer was analyzed using a Kaplan-Meier analysis. It was demonstrated that FNDC1 expression in gastric cancer tissues and adjacent tissues was significantly different. FNDC1 expression levels were significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues compared with normal gastric tissues (P<0.001). Among the clinicopathological characteristics evaluated, clinical stage (P<0.001), T classification (P<0.001), N classification (P<0.001) and pathological differentiation (P=0.044) were significantly associated with high FNDC1 expression. Higher FNDC1 expression level was significantly correlated with poorer survival. The present findings suggest that FNDC1 expression levels may be a promising prognostic biomarker for gastric cancer.
Keywords: fibronectin type III domain containing 1; gastric cancer; immunohistochemistry; prognosis; protein expression.