A genomewide transcriptomic approach identifies a novel gene expression signature for the detection of lymph node metastasis in patients with early stage gastric cancer

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K16838
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 50020:Tumor diagnostics and therapeutics-related
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: IZUMI Daisuke 熊本大学, 病院, 非常勤診療医師 (60594877)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 胃癌 / ジーンシグニチャー / リンパ節転移 / 予測 / 早期癌

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although identification of lymph node (LN) metastasis is a well-recognized strategy for improving outcomes in patients with gastric cancer (GC), there is lack of availability of adequate molecular biomarkers. A total of 532 patients with pathological T1 and T2 GC from 4 different cohorts were analyzed. Two independent datasets were used to establish a gene signature for the identification of LN metastasis in GC patients. We established a 15-gene signature by analyzing multiple high throughput datasets, which robustly distinguished LN status in both training (AUC=0.765) and validation cohorts (AUC=0.742). The 15-gene signature was significantly superior compared to the conventional tumor markers, CEA (P =0.04) and CA19-9 (P =0.005), as well as CT (P =0.04). We have established and validated a 15-gene signature for detecting LN metastasis in GC patients, which offers a robust diagnostic tool for potentially improving treatment outcomes in gastric cancer patients.

Free Research Field

消化器外科、トランスレーショナルリサーチ

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現在の腫瘍マーカーはリンパ節転移を診断するには感度が低すぎ、CT検査もコストや読影技術に左右されることなどから診断方法として改善の余地がある。今回のシグニチャーによってリンパ節転移診断の一つの新たな方法が示唆され、既存のマーカーなどと合わせてより簡便で正確に診断できる可能性がある。