Elevated spondin-2 expression correlates with progression and prognosis in gastric cancer

The spondin-2 correlated with tumor progression in many malignancies. However, the role of spondin-2 in gastric cancer has not been thoroughly elucidated. Spondin-2 and matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in 174 gastric carcinoma tissues. The relationship between the expression of spondin-2 and MMP-9, clinicopathological/prognostic value in gastric cancer was examined. Spondin-2 was significantly higher in gastric cancer than that in adjacent non-tumorous tissues. Spondin-2 overexpression was significantly associated with well differentiation, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and advanced TNM stages. The expression levels of spondin-2 were increasing in both prominent serosal invasion group and lymph node metastasis group. In addition, spondin-2 was positively correlated with MMP-9 among 174 gastric cancer samples. In univariate and multivariate analyses, spondin-2 was an independent prognostic factor for both recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). Moreover, spondin-2 overexpression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer in different risk groups. In conclusion, Spondin-2 overexpression contributes to tumor aggressiveness and prognosis, and could be a promising target for prognostic prediction in gastric cancer patients.