| Background and PurposeEsophageal cancer is a common digestive tract cancer with a relatively higher mortality rate, and now it has become a very prominent public health problem. As we all known, invasion and metastasis are the main causes for the poor prognosis of esophageal cancer. In recent years, the molecular studies about a number of genes and their protein highly relevant to tumor invasion and metastasis have been the research hotspot. It has shown that CFL1, N-WASP and MTSS1 may play the important roles in cytoskeleton reorganization, thus may regulate the motility and migration of tumor cells.The objective of the study was in an attempt to identify the expression pattern of CFL1, N-WASP and MTSS1 in ESCC and adjacent normal mucosa tissues by tissue microarray and immunohistochemical staining techniques. Also, we analyzed their correlations with clinicopathological features and survival of patients after operation, then discussed their roles in the occurrence, development, invasion, metastasis and prognosis of ESCC, with a view to find the new workable ways for early diagnosing and synthetically treating ESCC.MethodsTissue microarray technique and PicTureTM immunohistochemical staining method were used to detect the expressions of CFL1, N-WASP and MTSS1 in 64 ESCC specimens and 59 adjacent normal esophageal mucosa specimens. The relationship between the expressions of CFL1, N-WASP and MTSS1 and clinicopathological factors (such as invasion, metastasis, differentiation, pTNM-staging, etc.) in ESCC were analyzed statistically, too. Also, we used Kaplan-Meier survival analysis as methods of statistics analysis to investigate the relationship between levels of protein expression and survival.Results 1. The positive expression rate of CFL1 in ESCC was higher than that in normal esophageal mucosa membrane beside carcinoma (P<0.01). The positive expression of CFL1 was significantly correlated with tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis and pTNM-staging (P<0.05). Overall survival of 64 patients with ESCC, we found that positive immunostaining of CFL1 were associated with worse survival by extending the follow-up time, but it did not reach statistical significance (P> 0.05).2. The positive expression rate of N-WASP in ESCC was higher than that in normal esophageal mucosa membrane beside carcinoma (P<0.01). The positive expression of N-WASP was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and pTNM-staging (P<0.05). Overall survival of 64 patients with ESCC, we found that positive immunostaining of N-WASP were associated with worse survival by extending the follow-up time, but it did not reach statistical significance (P> 0.05).3. The positive expression rate of MTSS1 was not different between ESCC and normal esophageal mucosa membrane beside carcinoma (P>0.05). The positive expression of MTSS1 was not significantly correlated with the clinicopathological factors (P>0.05). Overall survival of 64 patients with ESCC, we found that positive immunostaining of MTSS1 were associated with better survival by extending the follow-up time, but it did not reach statistical significance (P> 0.05).Conclusion1. The increased expression of CFL1 and N-WASP at protein level in ESCC suggested that the CFL1 and N-WASP may play a promoting role in the tumorigenesis of ESCC.2. The positive expression of CFL1 and N-WASP in ESCC may indicate a higher malignant degree of tumors and poor prognosis of patients.3. It showed that CFL1 and N-WASP are likely to be satisfactory biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of patients and to be new targets for cancer targeted therapy in ESCC.4. MTSS1 may be an actin-binding scaffold protein in ESCC, it is needed further research to find the role of MTSS1 playing in the occurrence, development and prognosis of ESCC. 5. The correlations between CFL1, N-WASP and MTSS1 expressions in ESCC and survival of patients after operation were not precise. It is necessary to follow up in our subsequent studies.
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