J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc.  2003 Mar;3(1):38-43.

Expression Pattern of Caspase 2 in Korean Gastric Cancers

• Kim CJ
• Park JY
• Lee JH
• Cho YG
• Lee JW
• Song YH
• Kim YS
• Park CH
• Nam SW
• Lee SH
• Yoo NJ
• Lee JY
• Park WS

Abstract

PURPOSE: Caspase 2, a member of the family of ICE-like proteases, is activated by the Fas pathway and induces apoptosis by triggering the caspase cascade. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the expression pattern of caspase 2 might be associated with gastric cancer development and if so, to determine to which pathologic parameter it is linked. MATENRIALS AND METHODS: For the construction of the gastric cancer tissue microarray, 78 paraffin-embedded tissues containing gastric cancer areas were cored 3 times and transferred to the recipient master block. The expression pattern of caspase 2 was examined on tissue microarray slides by using immunohistochemistry and was compared with pathologic parameters, including histologic type, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and peritoneal dissemination.
RESULTS
Caspase 2 was expressed on superficial and foveolar epithelial cells and lymphocytes in the gastric mucosa, mainly in cytoplasm. We found loss of caspase 2 expression in 41 (52.6%) of the 78 gastric cancer tissues. Statistically, histologic type and other pathologic parameters were not related with loss of caspase 2 expression.
CONCLUSION
Our findings provide enough evidence that loss of caspase 2 expression may contribute to the development of Korean gastric cancer and that it might be one of the possible escape mechanisms from apoptosis in gastric cancer.

Keyword

Apoptosis; Caspase; Immunohistochemistry; Stomach cancer

MeSH Terms

Apoptosis
Caspase 2*
Cytoplasm
Epithelial Cells
Gastric Mucosa
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Lymph Nodes
Lymphocytes
Neoplasm Metastasis
Peptide Hydrolases
Stomach Neoplasms*
United Nations
Caspase 2
Peptide Hydrolases