Expression And Clinical Signifcance Of Tight Junction Proteins (occludin And ZO-1) In Human Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the tightjunction proteins (occludin、ZO-1) expression and clinicopathologic parameters inhuman esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods The protein expression of occludin and ZO-1in human esophageal cancertissues and their corresponding normal mucosa was detected by tissue microarray(TMA) and immunohistochemical (IHC) techniques. All statistical analyses wereperformed by SPSS version13.0.Results Expression level of occludin and ZO-1decreased signifcantly in ESCCtissues compared with their matched normal esophageal epithelium (P<0.01).Furthermore, the expression of occludin and ZO-1show obvious correlation withdegree of differentiation of esophageal carcinoma and lymph node metastasis(P<0.05).Conclusion Decreased expression of occludin and ZO-1may play an important rolein the carcinogenesis of esophagus.