Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 gene methylation and protein expression in gastric adenocarcinoma

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate IGFBP-3 protein expression, its correlation with gene promoter methylation pattern in gastric carcinogenesis and with clinicopathological characteristics.DesignForty-three normal gastric mucosa and 94 adenocarcinoma samples were investigated through methylation specific PCR, after bisulfite modification. Immunohistochemistry was analyzed using peroxidase in 54 gastric cancer and 20 normal gastric mucosa samples.ResultsIGFBP-3 expression was higher in tumor samples than in normal mucosa (p < 0.0001). Intestinal type presented a higher frequency of protein expression than diffuse type (p = 0.0412). Methylation frequency of IGFBP-3 promoter in gastric samples revealed, respectively, 95.7% and 97.7% in neoplastic and non-neoplastic samples. The frequency of IGFBP-3 methylation did not differ between tumor and normal samples (95.7% versus 97.7%, p = 0.7810). We did not observe a significant correlation between IGFBP-3 promoter methylation and protein expression.ConclusionIn summary, our study did not observe any influence of IGFBP-3 promoter methylation on protein expression. Moreover we propose that IGFBP-3 immunostaining in gastric tissue may be a useful marker for malignancy.