P27Kip1 expression and survival in NO gastric carcinoma

p27Kip1, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, is considered to be a tumor suppressor gene. Absent or reduced expression of the p27Kip1 protein has been reported being a negative prognostic marker in primary lung, breast, colon, bladder, and prostate carcinomas. p27Kip1 protein expression was evaluated in a series of 96 gastric carcinomas with no lymph node involvement (NO) to verify any impact on the clinical outcome. The analysis also considered the classic clinico-pathological parameters, such as age, sex, and depth of tumor invasion (pT). The most widely used classification systems for gastric carcinoma were adopted. The expression of p27pKip1 was related neither to the pT category nor to tumor histology. Kaplan-Meier analysis documented a significant impact of an advanced pT category (p < 0.0001) and p27Kip1-reduced expression (p < 0.0002) on survival. Multivariate analysis confirmed that the reduced p27Kip1 protein expression was a strong independent predictor of poor outcome, ranking second to the pT category only (p < 0.006 and p < 0.004 respectively). As reported for other neoplasms, the expression of p27Kip1 appears to be associated with the clinical outcome of gastric carcinoma.