Table III.
Clinicopathological variables and METTL3 mRNA expression in gastric cancer patients.
| METTL3 expression | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||
| Variable | n | Highb (n=25) | Low (n=32) | P-value |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 44 | 20 | 24 | 0.66c |
| Female | 13 | 5 | 8 | |
| Age, years | ||||
| <69a | 25 | 10 | 15 | 0.61c |
| ≧69 | 32 | 15 | 17 | |
| Histological type | ||||
| Intestinal type | 29 | 12 | 17 | 0.7c |
| Diffuse type | 28 | 13 | 15 | |
| Pathological T category | ||||
| pT1/2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0.63c |
| pT3/4 | 45 | 19 | 26 | |
| Vessel invasion | ||||
| Present | 35 | 19 | 16 | 0.047c,d |
| Absent | 22 | 6 | 16 | |
| Lymphovascular invasion | ||||
| Present | 48 | 20 | 28 | 0.45c |
| Absent | 9 | 5 | 4 | |
| Lymph node metastasis | ||||
| Present | 38 | 18 | 20 | 0.67c |
| Absent | 17 | 7 | 10 | |
| Distant metastasis | ||||
| Present | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0.41c |
| Absent | 44 | 18 | 26 | |
| UICC TNM classification | ||||
| Stage I | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0.62e |
| Stage II | 11 | 3 | 8 | |
| Stage III | 23 | 10 | 13 | |
| Stage IV | 13 | 7 | 6 | |
a
Median age at surgery was 69 years in this cohort;
b
Cutoff threshold of METTL3 expression was determined by ROC analysis with Youden's index for overall survival of GC patients;
c
χ2 test;
d
P<0.05;
e
Cochran-Armitage test for trend. METTL3, methyltransferase-like 3.