Prognostic value of stromal cell‐derived factor 1 expression in patients with gastric cancer after surgical resection

Aberrant chemokine stromal cell‐derived factor 1 (SDF‐1) expression has been shown to be involved in the development and progression of various malignancies. Our present study aims to investigate the clinical and prognostic value of SDF‐1 expression and improve risk stratification in patients with gastric cancer. Peritumoral and intratumoral SDF‐1 levels were assessed in 220 retrospectively enrolled gastric cancer patients, and their relations with clinicopathological features and clinical outcomes were evaluated. A predictive nomogram was created to refine risk stratification for overall survival of gastric cancer patients. Compared with peritumor tissues, tumor tissues showed decreased SDF‐1 expression levels according to TNM stage progression in gastric cancer specimens. Peritumoral SDF‐1 expression correlated positively with tumor invasion depth and lymph node metastasis, whereas intratumoral SDF‐1 expression associated negatively with tumor size, tumor differentiation, tumor invasion depth, lymph node metastasis, and clinical TNM stage. Moreover, both low peritumoral SDF‐1 expression and high intratumoral SDF‐1 expression indicated favorable overall survival, and SDF‐1 risk derived from the peritumoral/intratumoral SDF‐1 expression signature could stratify prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. After backward elimination, SDF‐1 risk was identified as an independent prognostic factor for survival. Finally, a predictive nomogram was generated with identified independent prognosticators to assess patient survival at 3 and 5 years following surgery. Conclusively, SDF‐1 risk, an identified independent prognostic factor, could be developed into a nomogram with tumor invasion depth, lymph node involvement, and distant metastasis to refine predictive accuracy for survival in patients with gastric cancer after surgical resection.