@Article{or.2026.083437,
AUTHOR = {Kyungeun Kim, Eunho Cho, Eun Joo Chung, Kwon-Ho Song, Tae Woo Kim, Seoung Wan Chae, Joon-Yong Chung},
TITLE = {Prognostic Significance and Functional Role of PPIB in a Retrospective Cohort of Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer},
JOURNAL = {Oncology Research},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/or/online/detail/27703},
ISSN = {1555-3906},
ABSTRACT = {<b>Objectives:</b> Gastric cancer remains a major global health burden, and robust biomarkers are needed to improve risk stratification. Although peptidyl-prolyl isomerase B (PPIB) has been suggested as a potential oncogenic factor, its clinical utility in gastric cancer remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of <i>PPIB</i> mRNA expression and delineate its functional role in driving tumor progression. <b>Methods:</b> <i>PPIB</i> mRNA expression was evaluated in a retrospective cohort of 497 gastric cancer patients using RNAscope <i>in situ</i> hybridization and digital image analysis. Functional roles and underlying mechanism were assessed through siRNA-mediated knockdown, plasmid-driven overexpression, and STAT3-targeted rescue experiments <i>in vitro</i>. <b>Results:</b> High <i>PPIB</i> expression was significantly associated with aggressive clinicopathological features, including larger tumor size, advanced T stage, and lymph node metastasis. Patients with high <i>PPIB</i> expression had significantly worse progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared to those with low expression, particularly in advanced stage. Multivariate analysis identified high <i>PPIB</i> expression as an independent predictor of poor PFS and OS. Functionally, <i>PPIB</i> silencing suppressed gastric cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, whereas its overexpression enhanced these oncogenic behaviors in both cancerous and non-tumorigenic cells. These aggressive phenotypes were effectively mitigated through STAT3 targeted functional rescue experiments. <b>Conclusions:</b> PPIB is a robust independent prognostic biomarker for gastric cancer, especially in advanced stages. Its role in driving aggressive phenotypes via STAT3 signaling underscore its potential for risk stratification and as a therapeutic target.},
DOI = {10.32604/or.2026.083437}
}