Preliminary study correlating CX3CL1/CX3CR1 expression with gastric carcinoma and gastric carcinoma perineural invasion

AIM: To study the relationship between the CX3CL1 chemokine, its receptor CX3CR1, and gastric carcinoma/gastric carcinoma perineural invasion (PNI). METHODS: Thirty cases of gastric carcinoma were surgically resected (radical resection or palliative resection) between February 2012 and July 2012. Tumour and tumour-adjacent tissues were evaluated for the presence of CX3CL1 (ELISA) and CX3CR1 (immunohistochemistry and Western blotting) in an effort to analyse the relationship between CX3CL1/CX3CR1 and gastric carcinoma/gastric carcinoma PNI. RESULTS: Of these 30 cases, 14 were PNI-positive (46.7%). No significant differences in CX3CL and CX3CR1 expression in tumour-adjacent tissues were found between the PNI positive and negative groups. Expression levels of CX3CL and CX3CR1 in tumour tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues (P < 0.01), and were significantly higher in tumour tissues from the PNI-positive group compared to the PNI-negative group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: CX3CL1/CX3CR1 expression may be associated with the occurrence and development of gastric carcinoma as well as gastric carcinoma PNI. (C) 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.