Stromal IGFBP3 (p=0.039), CXCL8 (p=0.008), TIMP1 (p<0.001), CCL4 (p=0.003) and SPP1 (p=0.048) expression was associated with intestinal type gastric cancer.
We investigated whether IGFBP-3 SNPs determining high IGFBP-3 circulating levels are associated with improved survival of patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with palliative chemotherapy.
These findings suggest that functional variants of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 might be important markers for gastric cancer susceptibility and further studies are warranted to characterize the functional relevance of the locus-locus interaction of this gene.
In conclusion, our study suggests that IGFBP-3 may be protective against the development of gastric adenocarcinoma by preventing the formation of intestinal metaplasia and improve the prognosis of gastric cancer.