Identification Of BPDE-binding Gene ATM And EST#56 As Biomarkers For Esophageal Cancer

Backgroud & Objective B[a]P is an important composition in tobaccosmoke.Liang et al have identified and cloned more than 170 of BPDE-binding DNA fragments after treatment of normal and cancerous esophageal cells with B [a] P and BPDE. Our research objective is to determine whether BPDE-binding gene ATM and EST#56 be used as novel biomarkers for early detection and prognosis of esophageal cancer. Methods In situ hybridization (ISH) was used to detect the expression of ATM mRNA and EST#56 mRNA in 63 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 52 cases of the normal mucosae. Results 1. Expression of ATM mRNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was higher than in the normal mucosae(63.5% vs 30.8%). Expression of ATM mRNA was inversely correlated with the degree of differentitation in tumors(r=-0.312, p=0.013).However,there is no correlation of ATM mRNA expression with age, gender, clinical stage , tumour size, tumour location and lymph node metastasis. Expression of ATM mRNA was higher in the smokers than in non-smokers (80.6% vs 40.7%). 2. Expression of EST#56 mRNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was higher than in the normal mucosae(60.3% vs 26.9%). There was a trend toward higher EST#56 expression in different differentiated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(r =-0.234, p=0.065).Expression of EST#56 was not found to be correlated with age, gender, clinical stage , tumour size, tumour location and lymph node metastasis. Expression of EST#56 mRNA was higher in the smokers than in non-smokers (77.8% vs 44.4%). 3. A positive correction was found between the expression of ATM mRNA and EST#56 mRNA (r=0.531, p=0.001).