• Xing-Hui Gao, Xue-Qin Yang, Bi-Cheng Wang, Shao-Ping Liu, and Fu-Bing Wang.
• Department of Laboratory Medicine and Center for Gene Diagnosis, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China E-mail : wfb20042002@sina.com.
• Asian Pac J Cancer P. 2013 Jan 1;14(9):5055-60.

ObjectiveTwist, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, plays a key role in the metastatic progression of human cancer. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 is an endopeptidase that digests basement membrane type IV collagen, therefore being possibly related to tumor progression. It has been reported that Twist and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) are expressed in gastric cancers. However, the exact roles of Twist and MMP-9 in tumor metastasis and prognosis remain unclear. The aim of this study was to casts light on this question.MethodsTwist and MMP-9 expression in tissue sections of 37 gastric carcinomas was evaluated with immunohistochemistry. The staining results were compared with clinicopathologic features and to patients'outcome.ResultsTwist positive expression was significantly increased in gastric cancer cases with lymph node metastasis (P=0.023). But no correlations were found between MMP-9 overexpression and clinicopathologic features, such as recurrence, TNM stage, and lymph node metastasis. Overall survival (OS) was significantly correlated with recurrence, serosa invasion, TNM stages, distant metastasis, and MMP-9 (P=0.027, 0.021, 0.000, 0.024 and 0.036, respectively). Disease-free survival (DFS) was prominently related to recurrence location, serosa invasion and TNM stages (P=0.000, 0.038 and 0.003, respectively). In the Cox regression multivariate analysis, TNM stage, distant metastasis and MMP-9 were significantly associated with prognosis of gastric cancer (P=0.002, 0.019, and 0.032, respectively).ConclusionsThis study showed Twist positive expression to be significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer. MMP-9 overexpression is associated with OS, suggesting that MMP-9 is a prognostic indicator for survival in patients with gastric cancer.

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