Expression of Fatty Acid-Binding Protein-3 in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors and Its Significance for Prognosis

Background: FABP3 is a member of the fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) family, whose role in various cancers has been reported in the past. However, little is known about the role that FABP3 plays in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Methods: FABP3 expression was analyzed in 119 patients with GISTs using immunohistochemistry and tissue microarrays to interrogate the relationship between expression and prognosis. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate patient survival rates using complete follow-up data and to evaluate the potential prognostic value of FABP3 using Cox regression analysis. Results: FABP3-positive signals were detected as brown particles located in the cytoplasm using immunohistochemistry. Among the 119 tissue samples, we observed high FABP3 expression in 64 and low or negative expression in 55. Immunohistochemical analyses suggested that FABP3 expression was significantly correlated with tumor size (P = 0.006), mitotic index (P = 0.016), gross classification (P = 0.048), and AFIP-Miettinen risk classification (P = 0.007). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the expression of FABP3 was significantly associated with tumor size (P = 0.021). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that patients with GISTs with low expression of FABP3 and classified with a very low to moderate AFIP-Miettinen risk had better prognosis. Multivariate analysis further showed that high expression of FABP3 (P = 0.017) was significantly associated with poor 5 year overall survival. Conclusions: High FABP3 expression has a prognostic value for patients with GISTs. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study revealed that the expression of FABP3 in gastrointestinal stromal tumors is significantly correlated with tumor size, mitotic index, gross classification, and AFIP-Miettinen risk classification. High expression of FABP3 is significantly associated with poor 5-year overall survival, indicating its prognostic value for patients with GISTs.