Study identifies new biomarkers for the prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma

A new study headed by the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM) reports that polymorphisms in gene TGFB1 and low plasma levels of protein TGFB1 serve as biomarkers for the gastric adenocarcinoma prognosis.

Specifically, these variants are 12% more regular in patients suffering from metastatic tumors, “which indicates their importance in the clinical progression of this disease,” said José Manuel Martín Villa, Professor of Immunology and researcher at the Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology of the UCM.

Apart from finding patients who present high mortality and poorer progression, these markers also recognize individuals at risk of developing this stomach tumor.

Published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, the results of the study, “help establish newer and more appropriate therapeutic regimens,” stated Martín Villa.

Besides the UCM, the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of University Hospital Príncipe de Asturias (Alcala de Henares, Community of Madrid, Spain) and the Gregorio Marañón Healthcare Research Institute (Madrid, Spain) also contributed to the study.

Possibility of extrapolating the data

Martín Villa explained about the detected serological marker, noting that:

The role of the TGFB1 protein in the progression of cancer, modulating the immune response, is controversial. However, these data indicate that this cytokine has a direct effect on the disease, because its absence causes these tumors to become malignant and more invasive, aggravating the patients’ condition.”

José Manuel Martín Villa, Professor of Immunology and Researcher, Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology, and Otolaryngology, University Complutense of Madrid

The researchers arrived at these conclusions by obtaining genetic material from a Spanish population and identifying the variants with the help of molecular biology techniques.

The team stratified the patients based on internationally accepted criteria for disease stages (I to IV). They used statistical techniques were to identify the link between these genetic markers and the development and progression of the disease.

This study was conducted over the course of 5 years, which has enabled us to associate these genetic variants with patient survival in the medium term.”

José Manuel Martín Villa, Professor of Immunology and Researcher, Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology, and Otolaryngology, University Complutense of Madrid

Martín Villa also leaves the path open to chances that the determined genetic and serological markers are also involved in other tumors like colorectal cancer.