Kallikrein-related peptidase 13 (KLK13) gene expressional status contributes significantly in the prognosis of primary gastric carcinomas

ObjectivesGastric cancer is a fatal human malignancy with poor prognosis. Modifications in gene expression, including those of the kallikrein-related peptidase family, have been portrayed in gastric carcinogenesis. Given KLK13 involvement in human malignancies, we aimed to uncover its prognostic strength in stomach cancer.Design and methodsQuantitative analysis of KLK13 profiles was accomplished in human gastric cancer cells and in a statistically significant sample size of stomach tissue specimens with the development of the highly sensitive real-time PCR methodology.ResultsDecreased KLK13 expression was demonstrated in cancerous compared with their matching non-malignant pairs (p = 0.002) and in poorly differentiated gastric tumors (p = 0.029). KLK13-positive patients were shown to live considerably longer (p = 0.014) and with low risk of disease recurrences (p = 0.043).ConclusionsThis is the first study disclosing the possible clinical utility of KLK13 as a new tumor biomarker capable of predicting a favorable outcome for gastric cancer patients.