TY - JOUR ID - 82540 TI - Immunoexpression of LGR4 and Β-Catenin in Gastric Cancer and Normal Gastric Mucosa JO - Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention JA - APJCP LA - en SN - 1513-7368 AU - Souza, Susana Moreira de AU - Valiente, Adriana Estela Flores AU - Sá, Kélvia Miranda AU - Juanes, Camila de Carvalho AU - Rodrigues, Bruno Jucá AU - Farias, Amanda Cristina Crispim AU - Campelo, Caroline Cavalcante AU - Silva, Paulo Goberlânio de Barros AU - Almeida, Paulo Roberto Carvalho de AD - Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. AD - Fortaleza Air Base, Aeronautics, Armed Forces, Brazil. AD - Postgraduate Program in Dentistry, Department of Dental Clinic, Federal University of Ceará,, Brazil. Y1 - 2019 PY - 2019 VL - 20 IS - 2 SP - 519 EP - 527 KW - Gastric cancer KW - Stem Cell KW - Lgr4 KW - β-catenin DO - 10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.2.519 N2 - Background: We evaluated the immunoexpression of LGR4 and β-catenin in primary gastric carcinomas, lymphnode metastases and histologically normal gastric mucosa in the surgical margins of gastric primary tumours. Methods:We performed a cross-sectional, observational study, based on 75 gastric carcinoma specimens from gastrectomiesconducted at the hospital of the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. The samples were analysed by tissue microarray andimmunohistochemistry. Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test and Pearson’s linear regression were used in this study. Results:LGR4 expression was greater in the histologically normal gastric mucosa (basal third of the epithelial thickness) of thetumour surgical resection margin than in the cases of primary carcinomas (P<0.001, mainly diffuse-histotype cancermargins), and also in the number of cells stained in the normal mucosa (P<0.0001). Primary intestinal-type carcinomasshowed greater positivity for LGR4 than diffuse tumours (59% vs 13%, P<0.0001) and in these the positivity washigher in the metastases (P=0.0242). The membranous immunoexpression of β-catenin was ubiquitous in the normalmucosa and present in 2/3 of the positive carcinomas. In only one case, nuclear β-catenin expression was observed.Most LGR4-positive cases were stained for membranous β-catenin but not the opposite (P<0.01). Conclusion: LGR4is a likely biomarker of stem cells in the normal gastric mucosa and carcinomas of the stomach, not specific to cancercells and positively associated with cell proliferation. LGR4 immunoexpression is more frequent and found in a largernumber of cells in normal tissues than in tumour samples. Expression of β-catenin in the junctional membrane-complexoccurred predominantly, in positive cases of gastric carcinomas and very rarely in the nucleus. LGR4 apparentlyinfluenced the membranous expression of β-catenin. These findings suggest a controversial role for LGR4, related toproliferative status and inversely related to tumour progression, in contrast to most previous reports. UR - https://journal.waocp.org/article_82540.html L1 - https://journal.waocp.org/article_82540_67bdc615c25232e7f91941143e7a8ff6.pdf ER -