Expression Of Cx43 And Skp2 In Gastric Carcinoma And Their Clinical Significances

Background and Objective: Connexin 43(Cx43), an important member of connexins family, is frequently down-regulated in tumour cells. It has been proved to have anti-tumour effecttion by gap junction- dependent pathway. Recently, it was reported that Cx43 has another gap junction-independent pathway, via down-regulating the expression of S-phase kinase associated protein 2(Skp2) to inhibit tumour proliferation. Skp2, a member of F-box protein family, can specially recognize and accelerate the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of some crucial cycle-regulators of G1 phase progression. This study was to investigate the expression of Cx43 and Skp2 in gastric carcinoma, and to explore their correlation in tumorigenesis and progression of gastric carcinoma.Specimens and Methods: Between Jan, 2004 and Dec, 2004, 56 specimens of primary gastric carcinoma and 16 specimens of paired adjacent normal gastric mucosa were enrolled in the study. All specimens were rechecked by pathologist to confirmed primary diagnosis. The expression of Cx43 and Skp2 were examined by immunohistochenistry in 72 specimens. The correlation between expression of Cx43 and Skp2, and relationship of their expression level and clinicopathologic factors were statistically analyzed.Results: Positive rates of Cx43 expression in normal gastric tissue, well- and moderate-differentiation gastric carcinoma, and poor-differentiation gastric carcinoma were 87.5%, 60.0%, and 13.9%, respectively. Through semi-quantitative analysis, expression level of Cx43 in poor-differentiation gastric carcinoma was significantly lower than those in normal gastric tissue(p < 0.05), well- and moderate-differentiation...