Prognostic significance of the co-expression of nucleophosmin and trefoil factor 3 in postoperative gastric cancer patients.

Although a number of studies have indicated that the positive expression of nucleophosmin (NPM) and trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) is associated with oncogenesis and poor prognosis in several tumor types, the prognostic value of the co-expression of NPM and TFF3 in gastric cancer (GC) has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the role of NPM and TFF3 in GC and determine their prognostic value. We retrospectively reviewed 108 patients who had undergone radical gastric tumor resection. The expression of NPM and TFF3 was detected by immunohistochemistry and the association of NPM and TFF3 with clinicopathological characteristics was investigated using the Chi-square test. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine the prognostic value of these markers. Of the 108 samples, NPM was positive in 57 (53%) and TFF3 was positive in 54 samples (50%). The positive expression of NPM was correlated with advanced tumor stage and recurrence (P=0.0333 and P<0.0001, respectively), whereas the expression of TFF3 was associated with larger tumor size (P=0.0005), poor differentiation (P=0.0435), lymph node metastasis (P=0.0116), advanced tumor stage (P=0.0244) and recurrence (P=0.0116). The univariate analysis revealed that the expression of NPM, the expression of TFF3 and the co-expression of the two were associated with poor survival (P=0.0004, 0.0028 and 0.0020, respectively). By multivariate analysis, all three factors were identified as independent prognostic factors in postoperative GC patients (hazard ratio = 1.970, 2.021 and 2.339, respectively). In conclusion, the expression of NPM and TFF3 and, particularly, the co-expression of the two, may serve as independent prognostic factors in postoperative GC patients.