Expression of thrombospondin-1 is correlated with microvessel density in gastric carcinoma

Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) has been shown to play a role in angiogenesis in a variety of cancers, but some studies indicated a difference in the mechanism of TSP-1 on neovascularization according to organ or histological type. Wild-type p53 protein has been shown to induce TSP-1 expression. We examined the expression of TSP-1 protein in 80 gastric carcinomas using immunohistochemistry and studied the relationship with microvessel counts, p53 expression and clinicopathological factors. We also performed reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis for the TSP-1 mRNA expression in gastric carcinoma cell lines and gastric cancer tissue after laser capture microdissection. Strong expression of TSP-1 protein was detected in 30 (38%) of the 80 cases. Positive staining for TSP-1 was seen in the cytoplasm of the cancer cells. TSP-1 mRNA expression was confirmed in a majority of gastric carcinoma cell lines and carcinoma tissues. Microvessel counts were significantly higher in tumors with strong TSP-1 protein expression than in those without expression or weak expression of TSP-1 ( P=0.011). No significant correlation was found between TSP-1 expression and p53 staining and clinicopathological factors. Our results support an idea that increased TSP-1 expression may be associated with an angiogenic phenotype in gastric carcinoma and suggest that TSP-1 may play diverse roles in each organ.