Background: PROX1 is involved in cancer development and progression as both a tumor suppressor and oncogene. Immunohistochemical (IHC) PROX1 nuclear expression is a widely accepted pattern. Scattered data reported PROX1 IHC cytoplasmic expression in different tumors, including gastric cancer but it is not clear if this holds true.
Materials and methods: Evaluation of the cytoplasmic expression of PROX1 in normal gastric mucosa and gastric cancer was performed by IHC followed by RNAscope, an in situ hybridization-based method for detecting PROX1 mRNA amplification on paraffin-embedded samples and to evaluate its clinical impact.
Results: Twenty five out of 48 cases of gastric cancer showed PROX1 nuclear and cytoplasmic immunohistochemical expression. Twelve out of these 20 cases positive for PROX1 on IHC (54.5%) had PROX1 mRNA gene amplification. The overlapping of PROX1 cytoplasmic expression assessed by immunohistochemistry and cytoplasmic RNAscope amplification was statistically significant (p=0.031). PROX1 mRNA gene amplification correlated with tumor grade (p=0.05) and regional lymph node metastasis as well (p=0.033). No significant correlation was obtained between PROX1 and histopathology, tumor size or distal metastasis.
Conclusion: A significant correlation was found between IHC and RNAscope PROX1 expression in the cytoplasm of normal and gastric cancer cells. This strongly supports its validation as a true expression on immunohistochemistry. A strong correlation between PROX1 mRNA amplification and regional lymph node metastasis supports its implications in cancer spreading and metastasis and sustains its utility, not only as a lymphatic marker, but also as a potential tumor marker in various tumor types, including gastric cancer.
Keywords: PROX1; RNAscope; gastric cancer; immunohistochemistry.
Copyright© 2014 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.