EYA1 expression in gastric carcinoma and its association with clinicopathological characteristics: a pilot study

As the second most frequent cause of cancer death, gastric cancer is a common disease worldwide. Most of the patients are being diagnosed in the stage that conventional treatments are not effective, and invasion and metastases lead to death. So, identification of novel molecular markers to improve early diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the gastric cancer is a necessity. EYA1 is a member of EYA family which their deregulation has been demonstrated in several types of cancer. The aim of this study was to assess EYA1 gene expression in tissues of the gastric cancer patients and to investigate its correlation with clinicopathological parameters. A total of 60 tumor and non-tumor gastric specimens were evaluated for EYA1 gene expression using quantitative real-time PCR. The EYA1 expression decreased significantly in gastric tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. We further showed that there was a negative correlation between the EYA1 gene expression levels, tumor size, lymphatic invasion and distant metastasis. In conclusion, EYA1 might be used as a potential biomarker for monitoring gastric carcinoma progression rate. Further studies to determine the mechanism of action of EYA1 is needed to unravel the role of this gene in gastric cancer pathogenesis.