Sun Yuan, Chen Xiao-Yan, Liu Jia, Cheng Xiao-Xin, Wang Xiao-Wei, Kong Qing-You, Li Hong
Cancer Institute, Liaoning Lab of Cancer Genomics, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116027, PR China.
Cancer Detect Prev. 2006;30(2):168-73. doi: 10.1016/j.cdp.2006.02.004. Epub 2006 May 11.
Caspase-3 is a critical apoptosis-promoting element but its status during stepwise gastrocarcinogenesis needs to be further clarified.
By the use of frozen tissue microarrays constructed with the tissue spots cored from defined histological regions in tissue blocks, the pattern of caspase-3 expression in noncancerous, premalignant (atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia) tissue and cancer spots were analyzed under the same experimental conditions by the methods of immunohistochemistry and mRNA-in situ hybridization.
Caspase-3 was expressed in all 34 of the noncancerous mucosa (100%), in 16 of the 17 premalignant tissues (94.1%) and in 15 of the 48 gastric cancers (31.3%). The incidences of caspase-3 detection were significantly different (p<0.01) between noncancerous mucosa and intestinal as well as diffuse gastric cancers.
Down-regulated caspase-3 is closely correlated with gastric cancer formation and would be a potential indicator of tumor formation and progression. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori; Hp) infection is but not the only one element responsible to the enhanced caspase-3 expression in gastric epithelia.
半胱天冬酶 - 3是一种关键的促凋亡因子，但其在胃癌逐步发生过程中的状态尚需进一步阐明。
利用从组织块中特定组织学区域获取的组织样本构建的冷冻组织芯片，在相同实验条件下，采用免疫组织化学和mRNA原位杂交方法，分析非癌组织、癌前组织（萎缩性胃炎和肠化生）及癌组织中半胱天冬酶 - 3的表达模式。
半胱天冬酶 - 3在所有34例非癌黏膜组织中均有表达（100%），在17例癌前组织中的16例（94.1%）有表达，在48例胃癌中的15例（31.3%）有表达。非癌黏膜组织与肠型及弥漫型胃癌之间半胱天冬酶 - 3的检测发生率存在显著差异（p<0.01）。
半胱天冬酶 - 3表达下调与胃癌形成密切相关，可能是肿瘤形成和进展的潜在指标。幽门螺杆菌（Hp）感染是导致胃上皮细胞中半胱天冬酶 - 3表达增强的因素之一，但并非唯一因素。
