Abstract: Objective　To investigate the the expression level of tumor necrosis factor-α induced protein 6 (TNFαIP6)in gastric cancer and its correlation to clinicopathological features and survival outcome of gastric cancer patients. Methods　The clinicopathological and follow-up data of 133 gastric cancer patients who underwent surgical resection in our hospital were retrospectively collected. Immunohistochemical staining was used to evaluate the expression of TNFαIP6 in gastric cancer tissues, and the correlation between TNFαIP6 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted to compare the survival difference between patients with high TNFαIP6 expression and patients with low TNFαIP6 expression. The independent prognostic value of TNFαIP6 expression for gastric cancer patients was determined by Cox multivariate regression analysis. Results　Among 133 patients, TNFαIP6 expression levels were high in 52 patients and low expression levels in 81 patients. The proportion of TNFαIP6 expression increased significantly in patients with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, Borrmann type Ⅳ, T3-T4 tumors, M1 stage and lymphatic vascular invasion. Kaplan-meier survival curve showed that the 5-year overall survival rate of patients with high TNFαIP6 expression was significantly lower than that of patients with low TNFαIP6 expression (56.5% vs. 82.9%, Log-rank χ2=12.404, P<0.01). Cox multivariate analysis confirmed that T3-T4 tumor (HR=2.291, 95%CI: 1.028-5.103), M1 stage (HR=3.628, 95%CI: 1.421-9.260) and high expression of TNFαIP6 (HR=2.742, 95%CI: 1.265-5.945) were independent risk factors affecting prognosis of gastric cancer patients. Conclusion　The high expression of TNFαIP6 in gastric cancer tissues is associated with the invasive characteristics of tumor, and which is an independent marker affecting the prognosis of gastric cancer patients.

Key words: stomach neoplasms, prognosis, tumor necrosis factor-α induced protein 6, clinicopathological features