CD63 and GLUT-1 Overexpression Could Predict a Poor Clinical Outcome in GIST: A Study of 54 Cases with Follow-Up

Background and Goals. In light of current knowledge, it seems that alternations underlying GISTs are well explained, although all that is enhanced by various aspects on a daily basis. More recently, attention has been pointed towards exosomes as important particles able to modify healthy and also diseased tissues including cancer. The goal of the present study was an analysis of CD9, CD63, and GLUT-1 as a marker of hypoxia status within 54 cases of GIST and evaluation of their predictive value. Methods. 54 cases of patients suffering from GIST were enrolled into the study, predominantly in the gastric location. All operated cases had no Imatinib and other chemotherapies up to the day of operation. Expression of targeted proteins was performed by immunohistochemistry and, after that, the results with tabulated clinical data were compared by Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox proportional hazard model of statistical analysis. Results. Our results presented a marked dependence of worsening clinical outcome with high expression CD63 (p = 0.008) as well as with GLUT-1 (p = 0.014). We noted a strict correlation of GLUT-1 expression with CD63 expression (p = 0.03), which could confirm the thesis about the contribution of exosomes in intratumoural hypoxia status. The collected material did not confirm CD9 contribution. Conclusions. As presented here, CD63 and GLUT-1 have a prognostic value in GIST cases. The results confirm the other studies in this scope and can be used in future as an additional prognostic factor.