2% bovine serum albumin (BSA). Immunofluorescence assays Immunofluorescent staining was performed as previously described [6]. We used the primary antibodies mentioned above, and secondary antibodies were obtained

from Beyotime (Beyotime Institute of Biotechnology, Henan, China). Fluorescent selleck chemicals images were acquired with a fluorescence microscope (Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). Statistical analysis Data were expressed as mean ± standard error (SE). In the experiments involving protein expression, values are representative of three independent experiments. We used the χ2 and Fisher’s exact test to examine the association between protein expression levels and various clinicopathological parameters. Univariate analysis was performed using the Kaplan–Meier method, and statistical significance between survival curves was assessed by the log rank test. Bivariate correlations between study Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor variables were calculated using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. Statistical analyses were completed with SPSS 11.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and a P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Upregulation of AQP3 and associated EMT-related

proteins predict poor prognosis for GC As shown previously, GC tissues expressed significantly higher levels of AQP3 relative to normal gastric mucosa (Table  2, Figure  1). Expression of E-cadherin was down-regulated in GC tissues with respect to normal mucosa (P < 0.05) (Table  2, Figure  1). Positive signals for nuclear vimentin JNK-IN-8 research buy were detected in 15.7% (14/89) of cases, with vimentin only expressed in carcinoma tissues that over-expressed AQP3 and lacked expression of E-cadherin. Vimentin expression was not detected in normal gastric glands (Figure  1). The correlation between clinicopathological features in GC patients

and expression of E-cadherin and vimentin was evaluated (Table  1). Elevated AQP3 expression in cancer tissues was associated with Lauren classification, lymph node metastasis, and lymphovascular BCKDHA invasion (P < 0.05). Lower levels of E-cadherin expression were closely related to depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.05). Vimentin expression was significantly associated with Lauren classification, depth of tumor invasion, and lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.05). Table 2 Expression of AQP3 and E-cadherin in GC tissues and corresponding normal gastric mucosa tissues Proteins Gastric cancer tissues Gastric normal mucosa tissues X 2 P-value AQP3       0.000   Positive 65 27 32.486   Negative 24 62   E-cadherin       0.000   Positive 35 62 16.515   Negative 54 27   Figure 1 Detection of AQP3, E-cadherin, and vimentin expression in GC tissue and adjacent normal tissue by IHC. Strong AQP3 immunoreactivity was identified in poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. E-cadherin expression was observed in normal gastric glands but not in GC tissue.