High Albumin Expression Promotes Tumor Progression in Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Albumin is abundant in human plasma and has been widely studied in cancer mainly in the context of systemic nutrition or the tumor microenvironment; however, the clinicopathologic significance and intracellular role of tumor-cell albumin in gastric adenocarcinoma remain unclear. PATIENTS AND METHODS: low based on intensity relative to intra-tumoral stromal cells. Associations with clinicopathologic variables were examined, and disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were assessed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. Albumin mRNA/protein expression was examined in three metastatic gastric cancer cell lines, and functional assays (wound healing and proliferation) were performed after siRNA-mediated albumin knockdown in Hs746T cells. CONCLUSION: Tumor-cell albumin correlates with gastric cancer progression and functionally contributes to motility and growth at the intracellular level, supporting its role as a marker of aggressive tumor biology rather than an independent prognostic biomarker.