AIM:To investigate the expression of zinc finger protein 139(ZNF139)in gastric cancer(GC),and to analyze its clinical significance.METHODS:A total of 108 patients who were diagnosed with GC and underwent surgery between January 2005and March 2007 were enrolled in this study.Gastric tumor specimens and paired tumor-adjacent tissues were collected and paraffin-embedded,and the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis were recorded.The expression of ZNF139,Bcl-2,Bax,and caspase-3 were determined by immunohistochemistry,and apoptosis was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferasemediated d UTP-biotin nick end labeling.SPSS 13.0software was used for data processing and analyses,and significance was determined at P<0.05.RESULTS:The expression of ZNF139 was stronger in tumors than in tumor-adjacent tissues(66.67%vs 44.44%;P<0.01).Overexpression of ZNF139correlated with tumor differentiation,invasion depth,clinical stage,lymphatic metastasis,and blood vessel invasion(all P s<0.05).Patients with overexpression of ZNF139 had a poorer prognosis(P<0.01),and overexpression of ZNF139 was an independent factor for the prognosis of GC patients by a Cox survival analysis(P=0.02).A negative relationship between ZNF139 and the apoptosis index was observed(r=-0.686;P<0.01).The expression of Bcl-2 in GC was stronger than in tumor-adjacent tissues(66.67%vs41.67%),whereas the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 were lower in primary tumors(54.63%and47.22%,respectively)than in tumor-adjacent tissues(73.15%and 73.15%,respectively)(all Ps<0.05).The expression of ZNF139 negatively correlated with caspase-3(r=-0.370;P<0.01).The expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax were also negatively correlated(r=-0.231;P=0.02).The expressions of caspase-3 and Bax protein were positively correlated(r=0.217;P=0.024).CONCLUSION:ZNF139 is related to clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of GC.Furthermore,it is overexpressed and involved in apoptosis in GC tissues by regulating caspase-3. AIM: To investigate the expression of zinc finger protein 139 (ZNF139) in gastric cancer (GC), and to analyze its clinical significance. METHODS: A total of 108 patients who were diagnosed with GC and underwent surgery between January 2005 and March 2007 were enrolled in this study. Gastric tumor specimens and paired tumor-adjacent tissues were collected and paraffin-embedded, and the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis were recorded. Expression of ZNF139, Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3 were determined by immunohistochemistry, and apoptosis was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferasemediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling. SPSS 13.0software was used for data processing and analyzes, and significance was determined at P <0.05.RESULTS: The expression of ZNF139 was stronger in tumors than in tumor-adjacent tissues (66.67% vs 44.44%; P <0.01) .Overexpression of ZNF139correlated with tumor differentiation, invasion depth, clinical stage, lymphatic metastasis, and blood vessel invasion (all P s <0.05 ). Patients with overexpression of ZNF139 had a poorer prognosis (P <0.01), and overexpression of ZNF139 was an independent factor for the prognosis of GC patients by a Cox survival analysis (P = 0.02). A negative relationship between ZNF139 and the apoptosis The expression of Bcl-2 in GC was stronger than in tumor-adjacent tissues (66.67% vs 41.67%), while the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 were lower in primary tumors (54.63% and 47.22%, respectively) than in tumor-adjacent tissues (73.15% and 73.15%, respectively) (all Ps <0.05). The expression of ZNF139 negatively correlated with caspase- (R = -0.231; P = 0.02). The expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax were also positively correlated (r = -0.231; ). CONCLUSION: ZNF139 is related to clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of GC. Future Thermo, it is overexpressed and involved in apoptosis in GC tissues by regulating caspase-3.