Heparanase gene expression and metastatic potential in human gastric cancer

Background: Heparanase has been reported to play an important role in tumor progression and metastasis. We examined the relationship between heparanase mRNA expression and biological factors regarding invasion and metastasis of human gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: In 63 human gastric carcinomas, 42 adjacent normal gastric tissues and four gastric cancer cell lines, heparanase mRNA expression was evaluated using reverse transcription PCR(RT-PCR). Total RNA obtained from human peripheral blood(PB) leucocyte and placenta were used as positive controls. The relationship between heparanase mRNA expression and various clinicopathological factors were analyzed. Results: The heparanase mRNA expression evaluated with RT-PCR revealed that 31 out of 63 gastric cancer tissues(49%), 11 out of 42 normal gastric tissues (26%) and 4 gastric cancer cell lines were positive. The positive rate in cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues(p<0.05). In the heparanase mRNA-positive cancer tissues, venous invasion was frequent (p<0.05) and the histological differential grade was significantly poorer than in negative cases. (p<0.01). Conclusion: We propose that heparanase mRNA expression is involved in invasion and development of human gastric cancer and detection of this expression may be a factor related to metastasis and prognosis of such patients.