Background: Ferritin light chain (FTL) is a functionally distinct composition of ferritin, which is over-expressed and play an important role in multiple human malignancies.
Methods: Matched normal and cancerous tissues in 60 gastric cancer (GC) patients were detected for FTL expression using immunohistochemistry staining. The relationship betweent FTL expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed by chi-square test, and the Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analyses were used to calculate the overall survival (OS) characteristics and recurrence-free survival (RFS).
Results: FTL protein was significantly higher in GC tissues than adjacent tissues. Further, FTL expression was not correlative with gender, age, tumor size, tumor location, CEA and AFP level (P>0.05). However, the associations between FTL expression and depth of tumor invasion (P=0.014), differentiation grade (P=0.001), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001) and TNM stage (P<0.001) were significant. Additionally, patients of GC with low FTL expression had longer OS (P=0.019) and RFS (P=0.011), and FTL was an independent prognostic factor for both RFS and OS.
Conclusions: FTL was an independent risk factor for both RFS and OS, indicating that FTL could be considered as a prognostic factor for GC patients.
Keywords: Ferritin light chain; gastric cancer; overall survival; recurrence-free survival.
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