Differential expression of lysophosphatidic acid receptor-2 in intestinal and diffuse type gastric cancer

Background and Objectives Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a natural phospholipid, can modulate diverse cellular responses through LPA receptor, LPA1–4. Although LPA1 is known to be widely expressed in human tissues, the distribution of other LPA receptors is not characterized in malignant tissues. Recently, it was reported that malignant transformation resulted in aberrant expression of LPA2 in a various type of cancer, suggesting the positive role of LPA2 in tumor development. Methods We investigated the expression of the LPA2 receptor immunohistochemically in 204 gastric cancers and analyzed the relationship between the expression of LPA2 and clinicopathological features. Results LPA2 was preferentially expressed (67%) in intestinal‐type cancer that was significantly higher than that in diffuse‐type cancer (32%, P