Expression of ASAP1 and FAK in gastric cancer and its clinicopathological significance

The present study aimed to analyze the expression levels of adenosine diphosphate ribosylation factor guanylate kinase 1 (ASAP1) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in gastric cancer (GC) tissues in order to explore their association with clinicopathological features and prognosis. A total of 32 patients with GC were enrolled in the present study. All patients had complete clinical follow-up data and paraffin-embedded normal gastric mucosal tissues. The expression levels of ASAP1 and FAK in these tissues were measured by immunohistochemistry. The associations of ASAP1 and FAK expression with clinicopathological factors and the survival of patients with GC were subsequently analyzed. The expression levels of ASAP1 (59.4%) and FAK (68.8%) in GC tissues were significantly higher than those in normal gastric mucosal tissues (28.1 and 40.6%, P<0.05). The expression levels of ASAP1 and FAK were associated with depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and pathological stage (P<0.05). ASAP1 expression was positively associated with FAK expression (P<0.001). In addition, ASAP1 and FAK expression levels were negatively associated with disease-free survival time and overall survival time (P<0.05). The 5-year overall survival rate was significantly higher in patients with negative ASAP1 or FAK expression compared with that in patients with positive ASAP1 or FAK expression (P<0.05). In conclusion, ASAP1 and FAK were highly expressed in human GC tissues and may serve a synergistic role in promoting tumorigenesis, progression, invasion and metastasis in patients with GC. ASAP1 and FAK expression in GC were associated with patient's survival. Therefore, ASAP1 and FAK may represent novel molecular markers for the pathophysiology and prognosis of GC.