Progression in gastric carcinoma relative to the ratio of CD44 epithelial variant transcript to CD44 hematopoietic variant transcript

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that CD44 splice variants play a role in the progression of certain epithelial cancers and non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma. In this study, we investigated the epithelial variant/hematopoietic variant (E/H) ratio (the amount of the CD44 epithelial variant transcript relative to the CD44 hematopoietic variant transcript) in human gastric carcinoma compared with normal gastric mucosa. METHODS The ratio was determined for tumors and adjacent noncancerous mucosa from 30 gastric carcinoma patients using reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction and Southern blotting. We also determined the tumor (T)E/H − noncancerous mucosa (N)E/H (the difference between E/H ratios of tumor tissue and adjacent noncancerous mucosa) and examined these measurements for correlations with the pathologic features of gastric carcinoma, as well as for their usefulness as an indicator of tumor progression. RESULTS The E/H ratio in tumor tissue was significantly higher than in adjacent noncancerous mucosa (P < 0.01). The TE/H − NE/H in patients with lymph node metastases was 0.16 ± 0.11, compared with 0.07 ± 0.08 in cases without lymph node metastases (P < 0.05). Significant correlations also were observed between the TE/H − NE/H and the depth of invasion, blood vessel invasion, and lymphatic vessel invasion (P < 0.03, P < 0.03, and P < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that increases in the E/H ratio may be a useful indicator of progression in gastric carcinoma. Cancer 1996;77:25‐9.