Plasma tissue factor levels and microparticle-associated tissue factor activity in patients with gastric cancer

Tissue factor (TF), which has an important role in blood coagulation, was reported to be abnormal expressed, associated with microvascular density and poor prognosis in patients with different types of cancers. This study showed that TF expression was elevated in gastric cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues and health gastric mucosa tissues by the method of real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis. Furthermore, plasma TF levels in patients with gastric cancer (median, 65.5 pg/mL) was higher than health subjects (median, 13.0 pg/mL) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Plasma TF levels was increasing with advancing stage of gastric cancer and significantly associated with tumor differentiation (P<0.01). MP-associated TF activity in gastric cancer patients (median, 0.955 pg/mL) was also increasing compared with health subjects (median, 0.11 pg/mL) (P<0.01). It is also associated with tumor stages and tumor differentiation. Therefore, plasma TF level and MP-TF activity may add useful information regarding tumor stage or differentiation in gastric cancer screening.