Aim: To explore the syndrome differentiation in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and gene protein expression in gastric carcinoma.
Methods: Preoperative data of gastric cancer cases were collected from the General Surgery Department and classified according to the criteria for syndrome differentiation in TCM. E-cadherin (E-cad) and ICAM-1 gene protein expressions were detected in postoperative specimens from these cases by the immunohistochemical EnVision two-step method.
Results: The E-cad positive expression rate was 90% in 100 cases of gastric carcinoma. The difference in E-cad expression was significant between the different syndrome differentiation types in TCM (P < 0.01). Further group-group comparison showed that there was a significant difference in E-cad expression between the stagnation of phlegm-damp type and the deficiency in both qi and blood and the deficiency-cold of stomach and spleen types, where E-cad expression was high. There was no significant difference between the internal obstruction of stagnant toxin type and the in-coordination between liver and stomach type, where E-cad expression was relatively low. The ICAM-1 positive expression rate was 58%, and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (c2 = 8.999, P > 0.05).
Conclusion: E-cad expression is relatively low in the internal obstruction of stagnant toxin type and the in-coordination between liver and stomach type, where tumor development and metastasis may be associated with low E-cad expression, or with low homogeneous adhesiveness between tumor cells.