Expression Of CRYAB And Its Relationship With Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Object: To investigate the clinicopathological significance of ?B crystallin protein(CRYAB)expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC),and to analyze the correlation between the expression of CRYAB and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.(EMT).Methods: In this study,we collected 110 patients' samples and they were diagnosed as ESCC in the Department of Pathology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from January 2012 to December 2013.The immunohistochemical Elivision method was used to detect the expression level of CRYAB,E-cad,and Vimentin in all ESCC tissues and their adjacent tissues.We last analyzed the correlation between CRYAB,Ecad,Vimentin and clinicolpathological parameters of ESCC patients.Results: 1.The positive expression rate of CRYAB,E-cad,and Vimentin in ESCC tissues was respectively 51.8%,58.2%,and 36.4%;and in corresponding adjacent tissues was respectively 21.8%,100%,0%.The expression difference between ESCC and normal tissues was statistically significant(P <0.05).2.There was no significant difference in expression level of CRYAB in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma between different age groups and different sex groups(P > 0.05).In tumor diameter greater than 5 cm,T3 and T4,? and ?,low differentiation,lymph node metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues of CRYAB positive expression rate were 57.3%,92%,75%,87.5%,79.3%,and the corresponding set of positive expression rate were 35.7%,18.3%,24.0%,45.7%,21.2%.The difference between different groups was statistically significant(P < 0.05).3.E-cad and Vimentin expression level in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma showed no statistically significant difference between different age groups and different gender groups(P > 0.05).However,there were statistically significant difference in tumor diameter,invasion depth,TNM stage,differentiation degree and lymph node metastasis(P < 0.05).4.In ESCC,the expression of CRYAB was negatively correlated with the expression of E-cad(r =-0.744,P < 0.001),and the expression of CRYAB was positively correlated with the expression of Vimentin(r = 0.464,P <0.001).Similarly,Vimentin expression was negatively correlated with E-cad expression(r =-0.623,P <0.001).5.The univariate survival analysis showed that the survival time of ESCC patients in the CRYAB-positive group,E-cad expression loss group and Vimentin-positive group was significantly lower than that of the matched group,and the difference was statistically significant(P <0.05).Multivariate survival analysis showed that tumor TNM stage,lymph node metastasis,CRYAB,Vimentin positive expression,and E-cad expression loss were independent prognostic factors for patients with ESCC.Conclusions: 1.The expression of epithelial marker E-cad is absent in ESCC,while the expression of interstitial marker Vimentin is up-regulated,and both are related to tumor size,differentiation,depth of invasion,TNM stage,suggesting that EMT is involved in the occurrence and development of ESCC.2.The positive expression level of CRYAB in ESCC tissues is much higher than that in adjacent tissues,and the level is related to tumor size,differentiation,depth of invasion,TNM stage and lymph node metastasis.At the same time,the expression of CRYAB was negatively correlated with the expression of E-cad and positively correlated with the expression of Vimentin,suggesting that CRYAB may induce the occurrence of EMT,promoting the invasion and metastasis of ESCC.