T-box 2 expression predicts poor prognosis in gastric cancer.

T-Box 2 (TBX2) plays a critical role in embryonic development. Previously, TBX2 has been suggested to be involved in malignancies. However, the role of TBX2 in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. In the present study, TBX2 expression was found to be evidently upregulated in GC compared with the expression in the corresponding adjacent non-cancerous tissues at the mRNA and protein levels. Using immunohistochemical analysis on the tissue samples obtained from 266 patients with GC, TBX2 expression was found to be significantly associated with the clinical stage and incidence of vascular invasion and metastasis. Patients with GC that expressed TBX2 demonstrated a shorter overall survival time compared with the patients without TBX2 expression. Multivariate analysis revealed that TBX2 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio, 3.930; 95% confidence interval, 2.041-7.917; P=0.009). These results indicated that TBX2 is a prognostic marker for patients with GC.