Overexpression of transforming growth factor-β1 in scirrhous carcinoma of the stomach correlates with decreased survival

A retrospective study of 50 patients with scirrhous carcinoma of the stomach who had undergone surgery was performed to elucidate whether immunohistochemical overexpression of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) could predict the patients' survival. To evaluate the proliferative activity of the tumor, the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) index was used. Expression of TGF-beta 1 was low in 27 patients and high in 23. Clinicopathological characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups with high and low TGF-beta 1 expression. Tumors with higher TGF-beta 1 expression had higher PCNA indices (p = 0.0467, unpaired Student's t test). The 5-year survival rate was 40.4% for the low TGF-beta 1 group and 28.7% for the high TGF-beta 1 group (p = 0.0388, log rank test). By multivariate analysis, pT, residual tumor, and TGF-PI were the independent prognostic factors. These results suggest that immunohistochemical expression of TGF-beta 1 is one of the useful predictors for estimating the patients' survival in scirrhous carcinoma of the stomach particularly of the T3 and T4 stages.