Genes Expression Profile Difference Between Esophageal Cancer Tissures And Normal Subjects

Objective: To describe an esophageal cancer specificexpression profile and to identify genes that showed altered expression insquamous esophageal cancer tissues and their adjacent almost normaltissues. Methods: The cDNA probes were synthesized from RNA ofcancer and adjacent almost normal tissues and were differentiallyhybridized with two identical huamn cDNA expression arrays membranescontaining 488 known genes. Results: Analysis showed that of the 488genes analyzed, 61 were found up-regulated in cancer, including Beta-catenin,wnt1,smad4 etc, and 8 down-regulated in cancer, includingATM etc. Expression levels of genes that associated with the regulationof cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and metastasis alteredmost. Conclusion: The results provide an esophageal cancer-specificexpression profile, showing that complex alterations of gene expressionunderlie the development of malignant phenotype of esophageal cancercells. In addition, this line of research can lead to the identification ofESCC-specific genes which may be helpful for the development ofdiagnostic and prognostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets. Objective:To examine the association of beta-catenin,wnt1,smad4,hoxa9,bmi-1 with the clinicopathologic features andprognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: beta-catenin,wnt1,smad4,hoxa9,bmi-1 mRNA expression level in 40 ESCCpatients (28 males and 12 females, age range 38-82 years, median 60years) was analyzed by realtime PCR. Beta-catenin,wnt1,smad4,hoxa9,bmi-1mRNA expression levels in tumor cells were categorized asweaker (level 1) or equal to or stronger (level 2) than those in endothelialcells. We examined the correlation between the beta-catenin,wnt1,smad4,hoxa9,bmi-1 expression and the clinicopathological factors andprognosis of ESCC patients.Results:The expression level ofβ-catenin,wnt1,smad4 was positively correlated to pathologic stage,cellproliferation,lymphnode metastasis and poor survival (P＜0.05), butnot to age,sexual and histological types (P＞0.05). The expression levelof hoxa9,bmi-1 was positively correlated to pathologic stage,cellproliferation and poor survival (P＜0.05), but not to age,sexual, lymphnode metastasis and histological types (P＞0.05) Conclusion:These genes might be an important indicator in predicting lymph nodesmetastasis and evaluating the prognosis.