Gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma (GCA) accounts for a majority of gastric cancer population and harbors unfavorable outcome. Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) belongs to the deubiquitinating enzyme family, which could regulate cell growth in human cancers. In the present study, expression of UCH-L1 was evaluated in 196 GCAs by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarray and its function on gastric cancer cells was measured. UCH-L1 expression was increased in GCA specimens, compared with their normal tissues and UCH-L1 overexpression is tightly correlated with tumor size and overall TNM stage. Log-rank analysis showed that UCH-L1 positive is reversely associated with cumulative survival (P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression model showed that UCH-L1 overexpression is a remarkably negative predictor in GCA prognosis (Hazard Ratio=0.53, P<0.01), along with advanced TNM stage that is a known negative factor in gastric cancers (Hazard Ratio=0.33, P<0.05). Silencing of UCH-L1 reduced the ability of cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells. Our findings suggest that UCH-L1 is a promising prognostic biomarker for GCAs and might play an important role in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer.
Keywords: Gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma; UCH-L1; biomarker; survival.