Prognostic significance of TMPRSS4 in gastric cancer

Transmembrane protease, serine 4 (TMPRSS4), is a novel type of II transmembrane serine protease that is highly expressed in multiple cancers. However the expression pattern and clinical significance of TMPRSS4 in gastric cancer (GC) remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the clinical and prognostic importance of TMPRSS4 in GC. We performed an analysis of TMPRSS4 expression in 200 consecutive GC patients by immunohistochemistry. Based on TMPRSS4 positivity, the GC tissues were divided into TMPRSS4-positive group and TMPRSS4-negative group. The relationships between TMPRSS4 expression and clinicopathological parameters or prognosis were explored. The positivity of TMPRSS4 expression was significantly higher in GC tissues than in adjacent normal tissues (44.5% versus 9.5%, P<0.001). TMPRSS4 positivity was significantly correlated with depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and vessel invasion (all p<0.01). Survival analysis indicated that the TMPRSS4-positive group showed poorer survival than the TMPRSS4-negative group (p<0.01). In terms of clinical stages, significantly different TMPRSS4 positivity was found only in stages II and III. Multivariate analysis showed that TMPRSS4 expression was an independent prognostic factor (p=0.013). Our data suggest that TMPRSS4 positivity is associated with GC invasion and lymph node metastasis. We propose TMPRSS4 expression as an indicator of poor prognosis in GC patients.