Kim Won Shik, Kim Hayeon, Joo Moon Kyung, Choi Byung Il, Yoo Ah Young, Park Jong-Jae, Lee Beom Jae, Kim Seung Han, Chun Hoon Jai
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 148, Gurodong-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul 08308, Korea.
Department of Pathology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 148, Gurodong-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul 08308, Korea.
J Clin Med. 2022 Jun 20;11(12):3550. doi: 10.3390/jcm11123550.
Claudin (CLDN) is a tight junction protein found in human epithelial cells and its altered expression is known to be associated with the progression of gastric cancer. We aimed to investigate the differential expression of CLDN-4 in early gastric cancer (EGC) according to its clinicopathological characteristics. We enrolled 53 patients with EGC who underwent surgical gastric resection from January 2007 to December 2018. The staining intensity of the tumor cells was scored as 0-3, and the percentage of staining was scored as 0-5; high expression was defined if the intensity plus percentage score was 7 or 8, and low expression was defined if the score was 0-6. Among the 53 patients, 16 (30.2%) showed low CLDN-4 expression, while 37 (69.8%) had high CLDN-4 expression. High CLDN-4 expression was significantly associated with intestinal-type EGC (low: 12.5% vs. high: 56.8%, = 0.003), open-type atrophic change (low: 60.0% vs. high: 90.9%, = 0.011), and the presence of synchronous tumors (0 vs. 32.4%, = 0.010), and all 12 EGCs with synchronous tumors showed high CLDN-4 expression. However, expression of CLDN-3, a typical intestinal phenotype CLDN, was neither correlated with CLDN-4 expression nor associated with synchronous tumors. Taken together, high CLDN-4 expression may be considered as an auxiliary tool for screening synchronous tumors in patients with EGC.
紧密连接蛋白（CLDN）是一种在人类上皮细胞中发现的紧密连接蛋白，其表达改变与胃癌进展相关。我们旨在根据临床病理特征研究CLDN - 4在早期胃癌（EGC）中的差异表达。我们纳入了2007年1月至2018年12月期间接受胃手术切除的53例EGC患者。肿瘤细胞的染色强度评分为0 - 3分，染色百分比评分为0 - 5分；强度加分值评分≥7分为高表达，评分≤6分为低表达。53例患者中，16例（30.2%）CLDN - 4表达低，37例（69.8%）CLDN - 4表达高。CLDN - 4高表达与肠型EGC（低表达：12.5% vs. 高表达：56.8%，P = 0.003）、开放型萎缩性改变（低表达：60.0% vs. 高表达：90.9%，P = 0.011）及同时性肿瘤的存在（0 vs. 32.4%，P = 0.010）显著相关，所有12例有同时性肿瘤的EGC均表现为CLDN - 4高表达。然而，典型肠表型紧密连接蛋白CLDN - 3的表达与CLDN - 4表达无关，也与同时性肿瘤无关。综上所述，CLDN - 4高表达可作为EGC患者筛查同时性肿瘤的辅助手段。
