Significance and relationship between Yes-associated protein and survivin expression in gastric carcinoma and precancerous lesions

AIM: To analyze the differences and relevance of Yes-associated protein (YAP) and survivin, and to explore the correlation and significance of their expression in gastric carcinoma and precancerous lesions. METHODS: The PV9000 immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of YAP and survivin in 98 cases of normal gastric mucosa, 58 intestinal metaplasia (IM), 32 dysplasia and 98 gastric carcinoma. RESULTS: The positive rates of YAP in dysplasia (37.5%) and gastric carcinoma (48.0%) were significantly higher than that in normal gastric mucosa (13.3%), P < 0.01. The positive rates of survivin in IM (53.4%), dysplasia (59.4%) and gastric carcinoma (65.3%) were significantly higher than in normal gastric mucosa (11.2%), P < 0.01. Survivin expression gradually increased from 41.7% in well differentiated adenocarcinoma through 58.3% in moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma to 75.6% in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, with significant Rank correlation, r(k) = 0.279, P < 0.01. The positive rate of survivin in gastric carcinoma of diffused type (74.6%) was significantly higher than that in intestinal type (51.3%), P < 0.05. In gastric carcinoma with lymph node metastasis (76.9%), the positive rate of survivin was significantly higher than that in the group without lymph node metastasis (41.2%), P < 0.01. In 98 cases of gastric carcinoma, the expression of YAP and of survivin were positively correlated, r(k) = 0.246, P < 0.01. CONCLUSION: YAP may play an important role as a carcinogenic factor and may induce survivin expression. Detecting both markers together may help in early diagnosis of gastric carcinoma. (C) 2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.