The Expression Of AFP,VEGF And STAT3 In Gastric Cancer And Significance

Objective: Gastric cancer is one of the familiar malignant tumors. Its death rate accounts for 23.03% of all malignant tumors . Invasion, metastasis and recurrence of gastric cancer cells after surgery are the major reasons for the poor prognosis of the patients with gastric cancer. Alpha-fetoprotein-producing gastric cancer(APGC) comprises 5.1%～15% of cancers deriving from stomach epithelia, has an aggressive behavior and malignant biologic activity. Its clinical or biological features are quite different from common gastric cancer. It shows a high incidence of liver and early lymph node metastases. It is regarded as an independent prognostic factor of gastric cancer. The study of its clinical or biological features and molecular biology is badly needed for the development of an early detection and novel multimodal therapies against APGC. However, the causal relationship between AFP(alpha- fetoprotein) production and the high malignancy of APGC is unclear. There are correlations between the expression of AFP and VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) protein in APGC. It is involved in the mechanism of progression and metastasis of APGC. Dysregulated STAT3 activation may play an important role in VEGF overexpression and elevated angiogenic phenotype in gastric cancer and contribute to gastric cancer development and progression. These factors, together with other as-yet-unidentified factors, are probably involved in the high invasiveness and metastatic potential of APGC. We investigated the relationship between AFP...