Gastric cancer (also called stomach cancer) can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus and the small intestine.

alpha 4GnT

• the quantitative RT-PCR method targeted to alpha 4GnT mRNA will be useful for the detection of circulating gastric cancer cells in the peripheral blood. PMID: 12652802

CA72-4

• more important than CA19-9 as a tumor marker in gastric cancer patients. PMID: 14619529
• the use of serum CA 72-4 measurements may be more useful than other tumor markers in the diagnosis, prognosis and detection of recurrence in patients with gastric cancer. PMID: 8471361
• appeared to be a useful marker for managing gastric cancer. PMID: 7657491
• highly specific to gastric cancer and may be more reliable as a tumour marker than CEA for gastric cancer. PMID: 1515249
• a reliable tumour marker of disease stage and activity in gastric cancer. PMID: 2207563

CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen)

• RT-PCR analysis of CEA mRNA in the peripheral blood seems to be a promising tool for the early detection of micrometastatic circulating tumor cells in gastric carcinoma patients and that it can be useful used to identify patients at risk for recurring. PMID: 15685031

CD44V6

• could now be used as an indicator of tumor progression in biopsies of patients with gastric carcinoma. PMID: 11396631

CDw75

• in tumor tissue may be a new marker of the biological behavior of gastric carcinoma. PMID: 12561443
• a significant histopathological marker for more advanced stage of gastric carcinoma and indicates a poor prognosis for the patients. PMID: 15162552

Cobalamin-binding protein (binder)

• Detection of the binder may be clinically valuable as a possible marker in the diagnosis of gastric cancer. PMID: 3568027

CPS1 (Carbamyl phosphate synthetase I)

• can be used as a novel marker for gastric carcinoma originating from complete type intestinal metaplasia. PMID: 2517620

DDC (dopa decarboxylase)

• potentially a novel marker for peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer and that quantitative RT-PCR of DDC is reliable and efficient for the selection of patients for adjuvant intraperitoneal chemotherapy to prevent peritoneal recurrence. PMID: 15553755

E-cadherin

• abnormal E-cadherin expression is a possible marker of submucosal invasion in differentiated-type early gastric cancer and absent beta-catenin staining could be used as a predictor of lymph node metastasis in both types. PMID: 11856141
• Loss of normal E-cadherin expression may serve as a differentiation marker in gastric cancer. PMID: 9951940
• soluble E-cadherin concentrations should be interpreted along with Lauren classification and thus might serve as a biological marker in intestinal-type gastric cancer. PMID: 12940439
• Serum soluble E-cadherin is a potential valid prognostic marker for gastric cancer. PMID: 11358900

EGF (epidermal growth factor)

• produced by tumor cells plays an important role in the invasive growth and productive fibrosis of gastric carcinoma and also serves as a biologic marker of high malignancy in patients with gastric cancers. PMID: 2420773

EMMPRIN/CD147

• Altered EMMPRIN expression might enhance growth, invasion and angiogenesis of gastric carcinoma via upregulating MMP expression of both stromal fibroblasts and gastric cancer cells and could be considered as an objective and effective marker to predict invasion and prognosis. PMID: 17088917

erbB-2 protein

• an important independent prognostic indicator in gastric cancer. The high malignant potential of erbB-2 protein-positive tumors may be associated with the very high potential for lymph node metastasis. PMID: 1670998

Ets1

• a marker of malignant potential in gastric carcinoma. PMID: 14562368

Glypican 3 (GPC3)

• a sensitive marker for AFP-producing gastric carcinoma (GC) and its hepatoid component and is therefore useful to identify this aggressive subgroup of GC. PMID: 17064293

GP87 (glycoprotein 87)

• differentially expressed in premalignant gastric lesions that appear to be the origin for fecal GP87, which may be useful for early detection of GC. PMID: 14578149

hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin)

• the serum hCG level could be a useful marker for the prediction of bone metastases in gastric carcinoma. PMID: 2473961

HGF (hepatocyte growth factor)

• serum HGF level may be a clinically significant tumor marker in patients with early-stage, as well as advanced-stage, gastric cancer. PMID: 15513361

HIF-1alpha

• considered to be a useful independent prognostic factor in gastric cancer, and the combination of a HIF-1alpha protein overexpression with nonfunctional p53 tends to indicate a dismal prognosis. PMID: 16951228

Hypermethylation

• Aberrant promoter hypermethylation may prove useful as a new serum marker for gastric cancer. PMID: 15330201

Id-1

• up-regulation of Id-1 is a frequent event in gastric cancer but its expression levels are not associated with tumour metastasis. Our evidence provides a possible novel marker for the diagnosis of gastric cancer. PMID: 15161041

IL-1beta

• Tumour chronic inflammatory infiltrate and tumour tissue IL-1beta overexpression are potential independent factors influencing systemic inflammation in oesophagogastric cancer patients. PMID: 17088911

IL-18

• preoperative serum IL-18 level may represent a significant postoperative prognostic determinant in patients with gastric carcinoma. PMID: 11596019

Integrin alpha6beta4

• is both a suppressor and a predictive marker for peritoneal dissemination in gastric cancer. PMID: 10702200

Intestinal trefoil factor (ITF)

• a marker of poor prognosis in gastric carcinoma. PMID: 12006524

MMP-7

• Preoperative estimation of the MMP-7 expression might be useful as a predictor of submucosal invasion and lymph node metastasis in early gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (SIG). PMID: 16615152

PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1)

• might serve as a new and promising parameter for the prediction of prognosis in gastric cancer. PMID: 16630137

Pepsinogen I

• urinary pepsinogen I will be an useful tumor marker in detecting the recurrence of stomach cancer after total gastrectomy. PMID: 1649690

PTEN

• Loss or reduced expression of PTEN protein occures commonly in tumorigenesis and progression of gastric carcinoma. It is suggested that PTEN can be an objective marker for pathologically biological behaviors of gastric carcinoma. PMID: 12508347

STK1

• the value of the half-life of STK1 measured by ECL dot blot can be used as a potential marker for monitoring the response to surgery in patients with gastric or other cancers one month after surgery. PMID: 12113581

STn (Sialosyl-Tn)

• Regardless of country, however, STn expression is a marker of gastric cancer progression suggesting that cancer-associated mucins play a role in the malignant behavior of this tumor. PMID: 8682587

Survivin

• Nuclear survivin is a powerful novel prognostic marker in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor disease. PMID: 15809513

TAG-72 (tumor-associated glycoprotein 72)

• serum TAG-72 as measured by the CA 72-4 assay may be a useful marker for late stage gastric carcinoma and its measurement alone or in combination with CA 19-9 may have utility in the clinical management of gastric carcinoma. PMID: 1737383

Telomerase

• could be used as a marker for neoplastic transformation in gastric adenocarcinoma: but it does not have a prognostic significance. PMID: 17469053

TFF2 (Trefoil factor family 2)

• a marker of tumor metastasis and negative prognostic factor in gastric cancer. PMID: 13679442

tie-1 Tyrosine Kinase

• may serve as a novel independent prognostic marker for gastric adenocarcinoma patients. PMID: 10430078

TIMP-1 (Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1)

• a useful marker for overall survival, disease-free survival, and disease recurrence in patients with gastric cancer. PMID: 16767366
• In patients with gastric carcinoma, plasma concentration of TIMP-1 appears to correlate with both serosal invasion and metastasis. PMID: 10570415

TKTL1

• a molecular marker in gastric cancer. PMID: 16969476

uPA

• a new independent variable for the identification of high risk gastric carcinoma patients. Therefore, therapy targeting uPA can be applied as a new biologic treatment modality for these individuals. PMID: 9041148

Other Gastric Cancer Markers

• Microvessel density is a prognostic marker of human gastric cancer. PMID: 17171787
• Measurement of mucosal hemoglobin volume (hemoglobin index) is useful for evaluating the endoscopic color of early gastric carcinoma quantitatively and may be helpful in distinguishing differentiated from undifferentiated carcinoma. PMID: 10922102