Background: Although a close correlation between PRL-3 overexpression and lymph node metastasis has been reported in gastric cancer, its clinical utility as a useful prognostic molecular marker remains unclear.
Methods: Prognostic significance of PRL-3 expression was analyzed immunohistochemically in 110 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone curative gastrectomy.
Results: There was a significant correlation between gender, histology, lymph node metastasis, the presence of recurrence, and the level of PRL-3 expression. Recurrence in patients with high PRL-3 expression was significantly higher than that for patients with low PRL-3 expression (p < 0.001). The median overall survival (OS) time and 2-year OS rate for patients with high or moderate PRL-3 expressed tumors were worse than those of patients with low PRL-3 expressed tumor (p = 0.001). In addition, patients with low PRL-3 expression had a higher DFS rate and the median DFS interval than those of moderate or high PRL-3 expressed patients (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated that the rate of PRL-3 expression was an independent prognostic factor, in addition to the already-known important clinicopathological prognostic indicator for both DFS and OS.
Conclusions: The potential value of PRL-3 expression as a useful molecular marker in gastric cancer progression should be evaluated comprehensively; it may predict recurrence and poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer after curative resection.