Overexpression Of Coiled-coil Domain-containing Protein 34(CCDC34) And Its Correlation With Angiogenesis In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Backgroud Esophageal carcinoma,which ranked as the sixth leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide,is a common cancer with poor prognosis.Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)is the most common pathological type.Although great progress has been made in treatments for ESCC,including surgical operation,chemoradiotherapy,and neoadjuvant chemotherapy,the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with ESCC still remains unsatisfactory.Thus,better therapies may be developed by exploring molecular biomarkers that can predict recrrence,progression,and prognosis of ESCC.Coiled-coil domain(CCDC)is a particular structural motif that had been identified in many proteins in which alpha-helices are coiled together like the strands of a rope.These proteins which contain this structure are collectively called the ‘CCDC proteins'.The coiled-coil domain-containing proteins have been shown to have a series of functions in biological synthesis.Recent studies have found that CCDC34 is highly expressed in bladder cancer,but the underlying molecular mechanisms still remain unclear.Therefore,we performed the present study to assess the expression of the coiled-coil domain-containing protein 34(CCDC34)in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)patients.We also explored the relationships between CCDC34 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics,tumor angiogenesis and prognosis.Methods We detected the expressions of CCDC34,VEGF,and MVD by immunohistochemical technique in 100 cases of ESCC and 80 cases of corresponding paracarcinomatous normal tissues.We used Western blot analysis to further detect the expression levels of CCDC34 proteins in 2 fresh-frozen ESCC and corresponding normal para-cancerous tissues.The relationship between CCDC34 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics,tumor angiogenesis,and prognosis were also explored by statistical methods.Results The expression of CCDC34 protein was obviously increased in ESCC tissues,which was significantly correlated with sex(p=0.038),TNM stage(p=0.003),and lymphatic metastasis(p=0.024).In addition,we found that the expression of CCDC34 was an independent prognostic factor for ESCC patients.The overexpression of CCDC34 protein in ESCC was associated with tumor progression,angiogenesis,and poor survival.According to the result of WB,the expression level of CCDC34 in tumor tissues was higher than in normal para-cancerous tissues,which is consistent with the immunohistochemical analys.Conclusion Our results demonstrate that CCDC34 is overexpressed in ESCC and can be used as an independent parameter for indicating the poor prognosis of ESCC patients,suggesting that CCDC34 might be a new potential therapeutic target for ESCC patients in the future.