Decreased DCC mRNA expression in human gastric cancers is clinicopathologically significant

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) or decreased expression of the deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) gene, a candidate tumor suppressor gene, has been suggested to correlate with progression in several types of tumors. In human gastric cancers, although DCC LOH has been reported to be frequent in expanding-type tumors, the relation of decreased DCC mRNA expression with clinicopathological features, including metastatic events, remains to be investigated in detail. Therefore, expression levels of DCC mRNA were examined in 52 advanced gastric cancers by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method combined with Southern blot analysis. Overall, decreased DCC mRNA expression was observed in 27 of the tumors (52%). According to Ming's [Cancer 39, 2475-2485 (1977)] classification, the expanding type showed a significantly higher incidence (71%) than the infiltrative type (17%) (p = 0.0002). Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated the presence of DCC expression in cancer but not non-cancerous cells in infiltrative-type lesions. An additional follow-up study of tumor recurrence in 42 patients undergoing curative resection implicated decreased DCC expression in metachronous liver metastasis. The results indicate that decreased DCC mRNA expression is closely associated not only with the expanding-type phenotype but also with liver metastasis of gastric cancers. Assessment of this parameter in primary lesions may thus find predictive application.