[Polo like kinase 1 expression and prognostic value in gastric carcinomas].

Objective: To identify the expression of polo like kinase 1 (plk1) and to discuss its relationship with the clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in gastric carcinoma.

Methods: Plk1 protein expression levels in 89 cases of resected gastric carcinomas were detected by immunohistochemistry method, the relations between plk1 expression levels and the survival periods were estimated by Kaplan-Meier curve.

Results: The positive rate of plk1 expression in gastric cancer tissues was 42.7% (38/89), significantly higher than that (13.5%) in the adjacent noncancerous tissues (12/89) (P<0.01). The expression levels of plk1 were closely related to tumor differentiation, invasion and TNM stage (P<0.05). Patients with plk1-positive expression had worse prognosis than those with plk1-negative expression in gastric cancer patients (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Plk1 may promote carcinogenesis and gastric cancer development, its overexpression can be a novel marker for diagnosing certain biological behaviours and predicting prognosis in gastric cancer.