OBJECTIVESTo study the expression of nicotinamide phosphoribosyl transferase (Nampt) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) in gastric carcinoma and investigate their correlations to clinicopathologic features and prognostic significance.

METHODSThe proteins of Nampt and VEGF-A in 68 specimens of gastric carcinoma and 59 specimens normal gastric tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry during January 2000 to December 2004, and the 68 patients were followed up.

RESULTSNampt protein was detected in the cytoplasm of both tissues, and Nampt in gastric carcinoma (13 ± 5) were significantly higher than that in normal gastric tissue (6 ± 3) (t = 7.46, P < 0.01). The expression of Nampt was correlated to invasive depth (F = 4.693, P = 0.034), lymph node metastasis (F = 4.027, P = 0.049), clinical TNM stage (F = 9.979, P = 0.002), but not to gender, age, tumor location, tumor size, differentiation (P > 0.05). The expression of Nampt is correlated with survival of patients that underwent surgical resection for gastric cancer. The survival rate of patients in negative of Nampt was very higher than that of the positive patients, and its co-expression with VEGF-A showed a trend towards poorer survival. The positive correlation was found between the expression of Nampt and VEGF-A in gastric carcinoma (r = 0.293, P = 0.015).

CONCLUSIONSThe expression of Nampt is positively correlated to that of VEGF-A in gastric carcinoma. The correlation between the expression of Nampt and VEGF-A in gastric carcinoma plays an important role cooperatively in carcinogenesis, development and metastasis of gastric carcinoma.