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Activated Akt as an indicator of prognosis in gastric cancer

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Abstract

The immunohistochemical expression of phosphorylated (activated) Akt (pAkt) in 50 advanced gastric carcinomas has been analyzed and the results correlated with age, sex, location in the stomach, histotype, stage, survival, mitotic and apoptotic index, some cell cycle regulators (cyclin D1, cyclin E, p34/cdc2, p27/kip1), and cell proliferation. There was a statistically significant direct correlation between pAkt expression (both cytoplasmatic and nuclear) and depth of infiltration of the tumor, number of infiltrated lymph nodes and p34/cdc2 expression, and between prevalently nuclear pAkt and cyclin D1 and cyclin E. Conversely, there was a significant inverse correlation between nuclear pAkt and apoptotic index and between cytoplasmatic and nuclear pAkt and patient survival. No correlation was found between pAkt and sex, age, tumor location, histotype, mitotic index, and cell proliferation. These findings suggest that pAkt may be considered an indicator of tumor progression and patient survival in gastric cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Physiology, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Siena Unit, Siena, Italy

    Caterina Cinti & Dario La Sala

  2. Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, Division of Pathological Anatomy and Histopathology, University of Siena, Italy, Via delle Scotte, 6, 53100, Siena, Italy

    Carla Vindigni, Maria Carmela Epistolato & Piero Tosi

  3. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, c/o IOR, Bologna, Italy

    Alessandra Zamparelli

  4. Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, Division of Surgical Oncology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Daniele Marrelli

  5. Department of Surgery and Bioengineering, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Gabriele Cevenini

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  1. Caterina Cinti
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  8. Piero Tosi
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Correspondence to Piero Tosi.

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Cinti, C., Vindigni, C., Zamparelli, A. et al. Activated Akt as an indicator of prognosis in gastric cancer. Virchows Arch 453, 449–455 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-008-0676-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-008-0676-8

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