High Expression of TRIM15 Is Associated with Tumor Invasion and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients with Gastric Cancer

Abstract

Background

Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Most tripartite motif (TRIM) family proteins are known as E3 ubiquitin ligases and considerable previous research has revealed the involvement of TRIM proteins in carcinogenesis. TRIM15 is a protein from the TRIM family and the aim of this study is to investigate the role of TRIM15 in gastric cancer.

Methods

We conducted immunohistochemical staining to examine TRIM15 expression using samples from Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University. We also conducted transwell assay as well as western blot by using gastric cancer cells.

Results

The expression of TRIM15 in gastric cancer tissues was higher than normal tissues. Present data demonstrated that high TRIM15 staining intensity had a positive relation to tumor invasion depth (P = 0.007), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.013), distant metastasis (P = 0.031), the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system (P = 0.002) and shorter overall survival (OS) in gastric cancer patients (P < 0.001). It was also worthwhile mentioning that TRIM15 was an adverse prognostic variable for OS. To gain more insight, we incorporated TRIM15 expression into the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system and thus established a nomogram. Data derived from the nomogram suggested that fitting TRIM15 expression into the prognostic model exhibited better efficiency for predicting OS in gastric cancer patients. Furthermore, TRIM15 promoted migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of gastric cancer cells.

Conclusions

Together, TRIM15 expression was found as a specific and independent adverse predictor in gastric cancer patients and the nomogram may contribute to better clinical management.

Keywords:

• Gastric cancer
• TRIM15
• prognosis
• invasion
• nomogram

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Fund (31370808, 81572317, 31770855, 31500645), and Shanghai Rising-Star Program (17QA1400300) and the Youth Fund of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning (20154Y0065). All study sponsors have no roles in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.