Association between the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α-induced protein 8 and the prognosis of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma

The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α-induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8) in gastric adenocarcinoma. TNFAIP8 expression levels in gastric adenocarcinoma tissue samples (with and without lymph node metastasis), adjacent normal tissue samples and metastatic lymph node tissue samples were detected by immunohistochemistry. The correlation between TNFAIP8 expression levels and clinicopathological data and gastric adenocarcinoma prognosis was analyzed. The results demonstrated that TNFAIP8 expression in gastric adenocarcinoma tissue samples and metastatic lymph node tissue samples markedly increased at a rate of 47.2% (50/106) and 81.7% (49/60), respectively, as compared with the adjacent normal tissue samples in which no TNGFAIP8 expression was detected (0%). This increase in TNFAIP8 expression was statistically significant. TNFAIP8 expression rates in the primary tumors (60%, 36/60) of patients with lymph node metastasis were significantly higher compared with the primary tumors of patients without lymph node metastasis (30.4%, 14/46). TNFAIP8 expression was associated with an increase in the severity of TNM stage, tumor grade, vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis and serum CA72-4 levels. The overall survival rate of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and high TNFAIP8 expression was poorer compared with patients with low TNFAIP8 expression, and TNFAIP8 expression was negatively correlated with patient prognosis. The results also demonstrated that TNFAIP8 was an independent prognostic marker in gastric adenocarcinoma (relative risk, 1.736; P=0.029). In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that TNFAIP8 expression was associated with the occurrence, development and metastasis of gastric adenocarcinoma, and negatively correlated with the prognosis of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. TNFAIP8 may therefore serve as a prognostic factor for gastric adenocarcinoma.