P53 Dependent Apoptosis Pathway Correlates to Responses to Preoperative Chemotherapy in Patients with Gastric Cancer

Hiroyuki Nagayama, Masatoshi Kawamura, Mitsuo Kusano

Second Department of Surgery, Showa University School of Medicine

To determine the clinical role of abnormality in the P53-dependent apoptosis pathway, immunohistochemical analysis was performed in patients with gastric carcinomas. The subjects of this study were 30 patients who were treated by preoperative chemotherapy for gastric carcinomas. 17 patients were medicated with 5´DFUR (p.o. group) and 13 patients were injected with CDDP (i.v. group). We choiced p53, Bax and Bc1-2 in the biopsy materials before chemotherapy for parameters. And we choiced histological evaluation, Ki-67 labeling index after chemotherapy and positive rate of Lewis Y antigen after chemotherapy for grades of chemotherapeutic effect. The positive rate of Lewis Y antigen after chemotherapy correlated with histological evaluation of chemotherapy both in p.o. group and in i.v. group (p<0.05). At i.v. group, the p53-positive group showed poor responses to chemotherapy both in histological evaluation and in positive rate of Lewis Y antigen after chemotherapy (p<0.05). At p.o. group, the P53-positive group showed poor response to chemotherapy in histological evaluation (p<0.05). These results indicate that, in gastric carcinomas, expression of P53 in the biopsy materials before chemotherapy predicts a poor response to preoperative chemotherapy.

Key words
neoadjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer, apoptosis, P53, Bax, Bcl-2

Reprint requests
Hiroyuki Nagayama Second Department of Surgery, Showa University School of Medicine
1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-0064 JAPAN

Accepted
January 14, 1998

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