Genetic alterations of the Cdx2 gene in gastric cancer

Gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia are generally considered precancerous lesions of the stomach; Cdx2 plays an important role in intestinal metaplasia and gastric carcinogenesis. To elucidate the potential etiological role of the Cdx2 gene in gastric carcinogenesis, we analyzed genetic mutations and allelic loss in the Cdx2 gene of 95 sporadic gastric cancers. We found two somatic missense mutations in the Cdx2 gene, P63L in exon 1 and E204K in exon 2, encoding the caudal-like protein activation region (codon 13-180) and the homeobox domain (codon 188-243) of the gene, in the gastric cancers. In addition, 9 (25.0%) of 36 informative cases showed allelic loss at D13S220 and/or D13S260. In 11 cases with a genetic alteration, Cdx2 nuclear staining was observed only in 8 cases of gastric mucosa with intestinal metaplasia. Loss or reduced expression of the Cdx2 gene in cancer cells was found in two cases with a somatic mutation and in three cases with LOH. Interestingly, all of the cases were intestinal-type gastric cancers. Thus, these results suggest that genetic alterations of the Cdx2 gene may contribute to the loss of Cdx2 expression and to the development of gastric cancer, especially in the intestinal-type.