Expression Of Claudin-7, E-cadherin And Matrix Metalloproteinase-7 In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Exploration Mechanism Of Invasion And Metastasis.

Background and Objective:Esophageal carcinoma is one of the high incidence carcinomas in malignant digestive tumors in our country. Patients with esophageal carcinoma were died from metastasis of esophageal carcinoma. It has been known that combined biological effects of multiple genes and multiple factors are involved in the carcinogenesis of esophageal epithelium and metastasis of esophageal carcinoma. To investigate the expression of claudin-7, E-cadherin and MMP-7 in esophageal carcinoma and the relationships to biological behavior of the cancer. To study the expression of claudin-7, E-cadherin and MMP-7 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with different clinical stage, pathological grade, invasive depth and node metastasis. The results may be helpful in prognostication of esophageal cancer.METHODS:In this study we used immunohistochemistry SP method analysed the expression of claudin-7,E-cadherin and MMP-7 in 72 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 20 cases of normal esophageal tissues. Statistical methods: Wilcoxon Test, kuskal-wallis test and spearman test. RESULTS:On immunohistochemistry there are remarkable difference between normal tissue with carcinoma tissue(p<0.05).there are remarkable difference of claudin-7,E-cadherin expression in different clinical stage(p<0.05).there are relativity in clinical stage with claudin-7, E-cadherin expression(p<0.05).there are remarkable difference of claudin-7, E-cadherin and MMP-7 expression in different pathological grade(p<0.05).there are relativity in pathological grade with claudin-7,E-cadherin expression(p<0.05).there are remarkable difference of claudin-7, E-cadherin and MMP-7 expression in different invasive depth (p<0.05).there are relativity in different invasive depth with claudin-7,E-cadherin expression(p<0.05).there are remarkable difference of claudin-7, E-cadherin and MMP-7 expression in node metastasis(p<0.05). there are relativity in node metastasis with claudin-7,E-cadherin and MMP-7 expression(p<0.05).there are relativity in claudin-7 with E-cadherin expression (p<0.05)..there are no relativity in MMP-7 with claudin-7,E-cad expression(p>0.05).CONCLUSIONS:1. The ratio of abnormal claudin-7 expression was 72%(52/72) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Expression of claudin-7 correlated with histological grade, clinical stage, lymph node metastasis and infiltration depth.2. The ratio of abnormal E-cadherin expression was 66.7%(48/72) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Abnormal expression of E-cadherin was associated with histological grade, clinical stage, lymph node metastasis and infiltration depth.3. The ratio of abnormal MMP-7 expression was 69.4%(50/72)in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Abnormal MMP-7 expression was correlate with lymph node metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. MMP-7 show no correlation with other indexes.4. Abnormal claudin-7 expression was correlated positively with reduced E-cadherin expression in esopihageal squamous cell carcinoma. The expressions of claudin-7 and E-cadherin correlate with the development, invasion, metastasis and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. It shows there is probability of claudin-7 cooperating with E-cad positively during pathological process of esophageal carcinoma. Simultaneous detection expression of claudin-7 and E-cadherin may be useful for the prediction of treatment and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.5. There shows no correlation between claudin-7, E-cadherin and MMP-7.We consider that MMP-7 is a no specific index, and it has the essential function in tumor's development all the time.