Brief Reports
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2005; 11(5): 721-725
Published online Feb 7, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i5.721
Correlation between expression of gastrin, somatostatin and cell apoptosis regulation gene bcl-2/bax in large intestine carcinoma
Jia-Ding Mao, Pei Wu, Xiang-Hou Xia, Ji-Qun Hu, Wen-Bin Huang, Guo-Qiang Xu
Jia-Ding Mao, Pei Wu, Xiang-Hou Xia, Ji-Qun Hu, Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu 241001, Anhui Province, China
Wen-Bin Huang, Guo-Qiang Xu, Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu 241001, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.39270769, and Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, No.03043704, and Natural Science Foundation of Education Bureau of Anhui Province, No.2002kj307
Correspondence to: Professor Pei Wu, Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu 241001, Anhui Province, China. wp5708@sina.com
Telephone: +86-553-5738856-2343
Received: February 28, 2004
Revised: March 1, 2004
Accepted: March 18, 2004
Published online: February 7, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To explore the correlation between expression of somatostatin (SS), gastrin (GAS) and cell apoptosis regulation gene bcl-2/bax in large intestine carcinoma.

METHODS: Sixty-two large intestine cancer tissue samples were randomly and retrospectively selected from patients with large intestine carcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining for bcl-2, bax, GAS, SS was performed according to the standard streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase (S-P) method. According to the semi-quantitative integral evaluation, SS and GAS were divided into three groups as follows. Scores 1-3 were defined as the low expression group, 4-8 as the intermediate expression group, 9-16 as the high expression group. Bax and bcl-2 protein expressions in different GAS and SS expression groups of large intestine carcinoma were assessed.

RESULTS: The positive expression rate of bax had a prominent difference between SS and GAS high, intermediate and low expression groups (P<0.05, χ2SS = 9.246; P<0.05, χ2GAS = 6.981). The positive expression rate of bax in SS high (80.0%, 8/10) and intermediate (76.5%, 13/17) expression groups was higher than that in low expression group (40.0%, 14/35) (P<0.05, χ2high vs low = 5.242; P<0.05,χ2middle vs low = 6.097). The positive expression rate of bax in GAS high expression group (27.3%, 3/8) was lower than that in low expression group (69.4%, 25/36) (P<0.05, χ2 = 4.594). However, bax expression in GAS intermediate expression group (46.7%, 7/15) was lower than that in low expression group, but not statistically significant. The positive expression rate of bcl-2 had a prominent difference between SS and GAS high, intermediate and low expression groups (P<0.05, χ2SS = 7.178; P<0.05, χ2GAS = 13.831). The positive expression rate of bcl-2 in GAS high (90.9%, 10/11) and intermediate (86.7%, 13/15) expression groups was higher than that in low expression group (44.4%, 16/36) (P<0.05, χ2high vs low = 5.600; P<0.05, χ2middle vs low = 7.695). However, the positive expression rate of bcl-2 in SS high (40.0%, 4/10) and intermediate (47.1%, 8/9) expression groups was lower than that in low expression group (77.1%, 27/35) (P<0.05, χ2high vs low = 4.710; P<0.05, χ2middle vs low = 4.706). There was a significant positive correlation between the integral ratio of GAS to SS and the integral of bcl-2 (P<0.01, r = 0.340). However, there was a negative correlation between the integral ratio of GAS to the SS and bax the integral of (P<0.05, r = -0.299).

CONCLUSION: The regulation and control of gastrin, somatostatin in cell apoptosis of large intestine carcinoma may be directly related to the abnormal expression of bcl-2, bax.

Keywords: Large intestine carcinoma; Gastrin; Somatostatin; bcl-2 gene; Bax gene; Apoptosis