Nuclear factor-κB1 expression levels in human gastric adenocarcinoma

NF-κB pathway is a link between inflammation and cancer and is involved in cellular responses to different stimuli. Gastrointestinal lumen is exposed to many inflammatory agents such as foods, free radicals and bacterial or viral antigens. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible role of NF-κB1in gastric adenocarcinoma. To detect the relative level of NF-κB1transcript, total RNA was extracted from tissue specimens, a cDNA library was generated, and quantitative RT-PCR was performed for thirty human gastric adenocarcinoma tissue samples and thirty matched normal gastric tissue samples. NF-κB1 expression showed two-sidedness, which means that a group of 11 sample pairs showed up-regulation and a group of 16 sample pairs showed down-regulation. No histopathologic characteristics of samples could justify the observed two-sidedness. The NF-κB1 two-sidedness expression indicates the involvement of NF-κB1 and in a larger scale, NF-κB signaling pathway in gastric carcinogenesis. Our results show the complexity of regulatory mechanisms involved in developing and controlling the process of gastric cancer pathogenesis.