Aberrant expression and amplification of the c-met gene, inactivation of the p53 gene, and CD44 abnormal transcripts are common events of both well differentiated and poorly differentiated gastric cancers.
In general, genetic instability, telomerase activity, CD44 abnormal transcripts, and p53 mutation, all of which are common events of two types of gastric cancer, may be involved mainly in the early stage of stomach carcinogenesis, whereas activation of oncogenes and overexpression of the epidermal growth factor-related growth factor system may chiefly confer progression on gastric cancer.
Multivariate analysis demonstrated that CD44 expression and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer and CD44 and sialyl Lea expression in colorectal cancer were significantly related to hepatic metastasis.
So far, the combined status of beta-catenin and TCF4 and its relevance for lymph node metastasis and CD44 expression have not been well studied in gastric cancers (GCs).
To detect the expression of CD44 correlated with the ability of micro-metastasis in peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with gastric cancer and to deduce its clinical significance.
In the present study, we identified three frequently amplified genes from 30 candidate genes using real-time quantitative PCR method, including ERBB4, C-MET and CD44, and further explored their association with clinicopathological characteristics and poor survival in a cohort of gastric cancers.
Besides, CD44 variant isoform 6 (CD44v6), a protein marker for metastatic behavior in gastric cancer, and was chose as the target gene to further analyze the siRNA delivery function of PEG-g-PEI-SPION.