Expression of Fatty Acid Synthase Negatively Correlates with PTEN and Predicts Peritoneal Dissemination of Human...

This study aimed to examine the clinical significance of fatty acid synthase (FASN) expression in gastric cancer (GC), and investigate any prognostic role.

FASN expression was assessed in gastric cancers by immunohistochemistry using 60 paraffin-embedded tissue specimens, and clinical data were collected by retrospective chart review. Moreover, FASN mRNA expression in 15 fresh resected specimens was evaluated by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Immunohistochemical staining of PTEN was performed to assess the correlation of PTEN with FASN in gastric cancer.

Increased expression of FASN was noted in gastric cancers. The frequency of FASN gene amplification was also significantly higher in gastric cancer than in adjacent normal tissue. FASN expression in human gastric cancer tissues was significantly correlated with patient TNM stage and peritoneal dissemination (p<0.05). Moreover, higher FASN expression significantly correlated with shorter overall survival (p<0.05). Here, upregulation of FASN negatively correlated with PTEN expression in gastric cancer.

These findings indicate that FASN expression is upregulated in gastric cancer, and increased FASN may be critical to th peritoneal metastasis and survival. Our results suggest that FASN upregulation and PTEN downregualtion may be involved in peritoneal dissemination for gastric cancer progression.