title: Expression of Fas and Fas ligand in esophageal tissue mucosa and carcinomas.
abstract: The Fas ligand (FasL) and its receptor Fas play a key role in the initiation of an apoptotic pathway. We describe the expression of Fas receptor and ligand pair antigens in surgical samples collected from a cohot of 89 patients compared with 89 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), 45 dysplasias and 42 normal mucosae of the esophagus. TUNEL method was performed in 89 SCCs. Evaluation of FasL on normal mucosae displayed a heterogeneous immunoreaction in a minority of specimens, whereas SCCs exhibited a more extended and homogeneous reactivity. Fas-positive carcinoma cells revealed frequent apoptosis. Furthermore, a significantly longer disease-free survival can be observed in patients with Fas-positive tumors than in Fas-negative carcinomas and in patients with FasL-negative tumors than in FasL-positive carcinomas. In conclusion, FasL expression may play an important role in tumor progression. On the other hand, Fas-expressing carcinoma cells were associated with frequent apoptosis. Both FasL and Fas expressions correlate with prognostic significance in esophageal SCCs.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Tottori 683-8503, Japan. kaseron@grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kase
authors.forename: Mitsuhiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osaki
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaibara
authors.forename: Hisao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007820:Laryngeal Mucosa / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D019014:fas Receptor