Recently, interest in peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) has increased, although clinical studies of the effect of PPAR-γ expression on gastric cancer have not been reported yet. In this study, we investigated the role of PPAR-γ expression in gastric cancer patients.

One hundred twenty-eight (128) samples of both gastric cancer and normal tissues were obtained from 128 patients who had undergone at a curative gastrectomy at Seoul Medical Center from Jan. 2001 to Dec. 2005. PPAR-γ expression was determined by using immunohistochemical staining, and the results were analyzed. The statistical analysis was based on clinicopathological findings and the differences in survival rates.

The mean age of the patients was 61, and the male:female ratio was 1.9:1. PPAR-γ expression was significantly higher in cancer tissues than in normal tissue (81.3% vs. 57.0%, P<0.001). There was insignificant difference between well and moderately differentiated types and poorly differentiated types in terms of the expression of PPAR-γ (87.0% vs. 74.6%, P=0.074). In the univariate analysis the survival rate was significantly increased when PPAR-γ was expressed in normal tissue (P=0.003). In the multivariate analysis, only the UICC TNM staging had significance related to the survival rate.

The rate of PPAR-γ expression was higher in cancer tissue than it was in normal tissue from gastric cancer patients. In the univariate analysis, PPAR-γ expression in normal tissue had significance with respect to survival, but the multivariate analysis showed no such significance. Thus, we should further evaluate more cases to determine whether or not such a significance exists.