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A Single Center Study of Genes Involved in Synchronous and Metachronous Multiple Early-Stage Gastric Cancers in Japanese Patients with Current or Former Helicobacter pylori Infection
by
, , , , , , ,
Minami Hashimoto
1,2
,
Takuto Hikichi
1,*,
Reiko Honma
3,
Jun-ichi Imai
4,
Mika Takasumi
2,
Jun Nakamura
1,2,
Tsunetaka Kato
1,2, 
Takumi Yanagita
1,2,
Mitsuru Otsuka
2,
Daiki Nemoto
1,2,
Masao Kobayakawa
1,5,
Shinya Watanabe
4 and
Hiromasa Ohira
2 1
Department of Endoscopy, Fukushima Medical University Hospital, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
2
Department of Gastroenterology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
3
Medicrome Inc., Fukushima 960-8031, Japan
4
Translational Research Center, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
5
Medical Research Center, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cancers 2025, 17(3), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17030464
Submission received: 20 December 2024
/
Revised: 26 January 2025
/
Accepted: 28 January 2025
/
Published: 29 January 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastric Cancer)
Simple Summary
This study presents a comprehensive analysis of gene expression profiles in early-stage gastric cancer (GC) lesions, focusing on the background gastric mucosa in patients who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection. We aimed to reveal differences in gene expression profiles between patients with single and multiple GCs and to construct a scoring system for distinguishing between these two conditions. Using four biopsied specimens per patient, lesion-specific gene profiles were derived and analyzed using DNA microarrays. Overall, 21 genes exhibiting distinct expression profiles in relation to the background gastric mucosa were extracted. A scoring system was constructed by assigning weighted values to these 21 genes, with an optimal cutoff value of −2.574, yielding 85.7% sensitivity and specificity. The findings indicate that, compared to patients with a single GC, patients with multiple GCs have a more similar gene expression between the background gastric mucosa and the GC lesions.
Abstract
Background: This study aimed to perform a comprehensive gene expression analysis in patients with early-stage gastric cancer (EGC) to identify gene expression profiles specific to gastric cancer (GC) lesions. Methods: Biopsy specimens were collected from one EGC lesion and three background mucosal areas of patients scheduled for endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). Lesion-specific gene profiles in these four biopsies were analyzed using DNA microarrays. Patients with concurrent EGCs at the time of an ESD or a history of GC were classified into the multiple GC group (n = 26), while those without such histories were assigned to the single GC group (n = 74). Results: After excluding patients with heterogeneous factors, 55 patients were analyzed. Twenty-one differential genes exhibiting distinct mean expression profiles stratified by background gastric mucosa were extracted between the single and multiple GC groups. A scoring system constructed using these genes to calculate the weighted expression values for each patient, with an optimal cutoff value of −2.574, yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 85.7%. Conclusions: This study identified the different gene expression profiles between synchronous and metachronous multiple GCs and single GCs in patients with EGC. The developed scoring system has potential to distinguish between single and multiple GCs.
