The specific aim of this study was to investigate whether the PDCD4 gene is involved in the development and progression of gastric cancer.

We examined the genetic and epigenetic alterations of the PDCD4 gene as well as the expression of PDCD4 protein in gastric cancers. The mRNA expression of PDCD4 and miRNA-21 expression were also analyzed using quantitative real-time RT-PCR.

Loss or reduced PDCD4 expression was observed in 79 (36.7%) of 215 gastric cancer specimens. Statistically, altered PDCD4 expression was not associated with the clinicopathological parameters, including tumor differentiation, location, lymph node metastasis and overall survival (P > 0.05). miRNA-21 overexpression was frequently detected in gastric cancers (31 of 46, 67.4%), and there was a significant inverse correlation between miRNA-21 and PDCD4 protein expression (P = 0.029), but not between miRNA-21 and PDCD4 mRNA expression. In genetic analysis, no mutation was detected in the coding region of the PDCD4 gene, and promoter hypermethylation was found in 24 (36.4%) of the 66 gastric cancer samples.

Our data suggest that overexpression of miRNA-21 and reduced or loss of PDCD4 expression may play a role in the development and progression of gastric cancers.