title: Spontaneous apoptosis in advanced esophageal carcinoma: its relation to Fas expression.
abstract: The prognostic importance of spontaneous apoptosis and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and Fas expression have yet to be delineated in esophageal carcinoma. Specimens from 65 patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus were used for immunohistochemical evaluation of Fas, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and apoptosis. The mean apoptotic index (AI) of 65 tumors was 1.38 +/- 0.99% (range, 0.10-4.49%). Thirty-nine (60.0%) patients had a high AI, and 26 (40.0%) patients had a low AI. Low AI was correlated with advanced tumor stage (P = 0.0197) and weak Fas expression (P = 0.0093). Patients with a low AI had significantly (P = 0.0095) worse survival than those with a high AI. However, by multivariate analysis, low AI alone was not an independent prognosticator. When combined with cellular proliferation index, AI became an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.0283) in this group of patients. Our results suggest that enhanced Fas expression is responsible for high AI in squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. High AI, combined with the cellular proliferation labeling index, could be an independent prognostic indicator.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Shimane Medical University, Izumo, Japan. nigeka88@shimane-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibakita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tachibana
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Dhar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kinugasa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masunaga
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagasue
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D002455:Cell Division; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D019014:fas Receptor