Frequent gene amplification predicts poor prognosis in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. However, genetic alterations leading to this disease are largely unknown. Gene amplification is one of the most frequent genetic alterations, which is believed to play a major role in the development and progression of gastric cancer. In the present study, we identified three frequently amplified genes from 30 candidate genes using real-time quantitative PCR method, including ERBB4, C-MET and CD44, and further explored their association with clinicopathological characteristics and poor survival in a cohort of gastric cancers. Our data showed amplification of these genes was significantly associated with certain clinicopathological characteristics, particularly tumor differentiation and cancer-related death. More importantly, amplification of these genes was significantly related to worse survival, suggesting that these amplified genes may be significant predictors of poor prognosis and potential therapeutic targets in gastric cancer. Targeting these genes may thus provide new possibilities in the treatment of gastric cancer.