Expression Of CD44v6 And E-cadherin In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma And Its Clinical Significance

Object To investigate the change of protein expression and gene expression of CD44v6 and E-cadherin in benign and malignant disease of esophagus and to analysis the relationship between two adhesion molecules with tumorigenesis and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by correlating the results with clinicopathologic variables. Methods Expression of CD44v6 and E-cadherin in fifteen cases of normal esophageal mucosa, twenty cases of peritumorous atypical hyperplastic tissue and sixty cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were determined by S-P immunohistochemical method and in situ hybridization technique. Results Protein expression of CD44v6 was detected in a significant proportion of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(83.3%) tissues than peritumorous atypical hyperplastic(45.0%) tissues and normal tissues( 13.3 %)(P<0.01). Fifty-one of sixty expressed CD44v6 mRNA, compared to eight of twenty peritumorous tissues and one of fifteen normal tissue (P<0.01). The high level expression of CD44v6 gene and protein was strongly correlated with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, depth of infiltration and three-year survival in esophageal carcinoma. The expression of E-cadherin protein and E-cadherin mRNA in esophageal carcinoma was significantly lower than peritumorous atypical hyperplastic tissue and normal tissue(P<0.01). We found a significant correlation between the expression of E-cadherin and clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, depth of infiltration, three-year survival and tumor differentiation. The negative relationship between the expression of CD44v6 and E-cadherin could be found with statistical significance. Conclusion The expression of CD44v6 and E-cadherin contributed to tumorgenesis in the early stage of esophagealsquamous cell carcinoma. The abnormal expression of CD44v6 and E-cadherin have a close correlation with metastasis, which may be considered as two potential indicators to judge the metastasis and prognosis of esophageal cancer. Because of negative relationship of CD44v6 and E-cadherin in pathological course of esophageal cancer, combined measurement of CD44v6 and E-cadherin may have more veracity than single index measurement to forecast the malignant biological character.