TAZIs Highly Expressed in Gastric Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) is known to bind to a variety of transcription factors to control cell differentiation and organ development. We examinedTAZprotein levels in 146 stage II–IV gastric cancer using immunohistochemistry (IHC), whileTAZmRNA was confirmed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) in 84 samples with enough tissue.TAZprotein expression was positive in 113 out of 146 (77.4%) gastric cancer samples. In parallel,TAZmRNA expression was successfully detected in 81 of the 84 (96.4%) samples. Protein levels ofTAZwere positively correlated with its mRNA levels (P=0.018). High expression ofTAZprotein was observed with higher percentage in gastric cancer samples with histology of signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) than adenocarcinoma (85.7% versus 60.2%,P=0.001). Similarly,TAZmRNA level was higher in SRCC than in adenocarcinoma (P=0.003). When correlated with survival, the median overall survival (OS) is 14 months (95% CI: 12.2–15.8 months) in all patients. There was no significant association between survival and other clinical characteristics orTAZexpression levels. Our results show thatTAZis highly expressed in SRCC.TAZmight be considered as a target for the treatment of gastric SRCC in future.