RNA-binding protein RBM38 acts as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of RBM38 protein in gastric cancer patients and to explore its association with clinical pathological characteristics and prognosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 120 pairs of gastric cancer tissues and non-cancerous gastric mucosa from 120 patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer were included in the current study. RBM38 protein expression levels were detected in all tissue specimens by immunohistochemistry staining. The positive rate of RBM38 was compared between cancer tissue and normal tissue, and its association with the clinical pathological characteristics and prognosis was elucidated.

RESULTS

RBM38 protein was predominantly expressed in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells. The percentage of tissues with high RBM38 protein expression level was significantly lower (χ=28.972, P<0.001) in gastric cancer tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous gastric mucosal tissues. The expression level of RBM38 protein was associated with tumor size (P=0.028), depth of invasion (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001), TNM stage (P<0.001) and Lauren classification of the tumor (P=0.001), whereas it was not associated with gender (P=0.066) and age (P=0.6) of patients. Moreover, we noticed that the low expression level of RBM38 protein was also associated with poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients (log rank =5.325; P=0.021).

CONCLUSION

Overall, our findings indicated that RBM38 may play a vital role as a tumor suppressor, which may be a potential marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of gastric cancer.