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Background: Although systemic chemotherapy has improved response rates in metastatic gastric carcinoma patients, the median survival time remains at 10 months. Targeted therapy for alleviating metastasis may prolong survival in such patients. The chemokine, Stromal Cell Derived Factor-1α (SDF-1α, also known as CXCL12), derived from carcinoma-associated fibroblasts has been reported to have a role in cancer metastasis; however, the clinical significance of circulating SDF-1α is not known in gastric carcinoma patients. The present study measured SDF-1α serum concentrations in gastric carcinoma patients, and investigated the relationship between serum SDF-1α concentration and serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels and clinical factors.

Methods: Serum SDF-1α and VEGF concentrations were measured in 107 gastric cancer patients prior to treatment using a sandwich ELISA. These levels were compared with those of 23 healthy controls.

Results: Mean serum SDF-1α and VEGF levels were higher in gastric cancer patients than in healthy controls (SDF1-α, 64.5 ± 18.5 vs. 53.4 ± 3.9 ng/mL [P <0.001]; VEGF, 50.1 ± 12.9 vs. 31.9 ± 2.5 ng/mL [P <0.001]). Serum SDF-1α levels were higher in metastatic patients than non-metastatic patients (SDF1-α, 74.4 ± 13.9 ng/mL [range, 30.4-93.4] vs. 61.2 ± 12.1ng/mL [range, 44.4- 96.6] [P <0.001]). SDF-1α levels correlated with the presence of distant metastases (r= 0.528; P <0.001), and also correlated with VEGF levels (r= 0.789; P <0.001), but not with the depth of tumor invasion, differentiation, or regional lymph node status. Conclusion: SDF-1α may play an important role in the development of distant metastasis in gastric carcinoma patients, and SDF-1α and VEGF seems to be synergistically upregulated. Thus, SDF-1α may be a potential therapeutic target for inhibiting gastric carcinoma metastasis.

98th AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 14-18, 2007; Los Angeles, CA

American Association for Cancer Research
2007