Evidence suggests that multiple molecular events, including alteration of cell cycle regulators are
involved in the development and progression of gastric carcinoma. Recently, it has been reported that
the expression of p21 and p27, integrating the effects of one or more cell cycle regulators, consequently,
acting as a single indicator of several possible cell cycle gene alterations is associated with tumor
suppression. In the present study, we studied the immunohistochemical expression of p21 and p27 in
gastrectomy specimens from 84 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, and analysed its correlation to
clinicopathologic data, including patients survival. Loss of p21 and p27 expression was noted in 45
(53.6%) and 44 (52.4%) of the 84 gastric carcinoma tissues, respectively. The expression of p21 was
significantly correlated with histological type (p= 0.005), recurrence (p=0.002) and death (p=0.002)
after surgery, and p27 expression (p=0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival plots showed p21 negative group
(p= 0.0014) or both p21 and p27 negative group (p=0.0048) was significantly poorer in overall survival
than both p21 and p27 positive or one of both positive group. Our results suggest that the status of p21
and p27 expression in immunohistochemical stain may be a useful prognostic marker of gastric carcinoma.
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