Impact of overexpression of Sushi repeat-containing protein X-linked 2 gene on outcomes of gastric cancer

Background and Objectives Sushi repeat-containing protein X-linked 2 (SRPX2) was first described as a downstream target gene for E2A-HLA, which causes pro-B acute leukemia. SRPX2 is considered to promote cellular migration and adhesion in cancers. Our objective was to evaluate the relative expression of the SRPX2 gene and to determine whether such expression correlates with outcomes in patients with gastric cancer. Methods Surgical specimens of cancer tissue and adjacent normal mucosa obtained from 227 patients with previously untreated gastric cancer were examined. SRPX2 mRNA expression levels of cancer tissue and adjacent normal mucosa were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. We evaluated the clinicopathological significance of the relative expression of SRPX2 in patients with gastric cancer. Results SRPX2 expression was higher in cancer tissue than in adjacent normal mucosa (P < 0.001). On analysis of the relations between gene expression and clinicopathological factors, SRPX2 expression correlated with tumor size and distant metastasis. Overall survival was significantly lower in patients whose tumors had high SRPX2 expression than in those who had low SRPX2 expression (P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that high SRPX2 expression was an independent predictor of survival (HR = 2.028, 95% CI = 1.265-3.251). Conclusions SRPX2 expression was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissue than in adjacent normal mucosa, and overexpression of the SRPX2 gene is considered a useful independent predictor of outcomes in patients with gastric cancer. J. Surg. Oncol. 2014 109:836-840. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.