Expression of RNA-binding motif protein 3 is increased in gastric adenocarcinoma but unrelated to prognosis of patients

Strong RNA-binding motif protein 3 (RBM3) has recently been described to be linked to overall survival in many different cancer types. To better understand the impact of RBM3 expression in preneoplastic and neoplastic gastric tissue, RBM3 protein expression was analyzed on a pre-existing tissue microarray containing normal gastric epithelium, gastric dysplasia, and primary gastric adenocarcinoma specimens. Nuclear RBM3 expression was detectable in various intensities in benign gastric epithelium. Increased nuclear RBM3 expression was found in preneoplastic and neoplastic as compared to normal gastric epithelium (P < 0.0001 each). In detail, strong RBM3 expression were found in 63.6% of dysplasia and 56.8% of cancers. These data suggest a role of RBM3 in gastric carcinogenesis – however - high RBM3 expression was unrelated to clinic-pathological features of tumors and overall survival of patients.