[Expression and significance of beta-catenin in esophageal carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
Many reports have characterized the aberrant expression of beta-catenin in diverse types of human cancer. To determine whether beta-catenin has possible roles in esophageal carcinogensis, we designed this study to detect the expression pattern of beta-catenin in normal esophageal epithelium and esophageal cancer tissue, then to study the relevance of its expression and localization to tumor differetiation degree and lymph node metastasis.


METHODS
By using immunohistochemical staining(SP method), the expression of beta-catenin was detected in 22 normal esophageal tissue slides and 52 esophageal carcinomas.


RESULTS
In the 22 normal esophageal tissue, beta-catenin showed high intense expression at the membrane and low intense expression at the cytoplasm. In contrast to the normal tissue, beta-catenin was expressed in the cytoplasma in carcinoma with varied degrees, accompanied by less, or even lost expression at the membrane in cancer samples. In some cases, beta-catenin could be detected in the nucleus. Moreover, the positive rate of beta-catenin expression in cytoplasm was significantly higher in those patients with lymph node metastasis than patients without(P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The aberrant expression of beta-catenin occurred frequently in the esophageal carcinoma, mainly including the translocation of beta-catenin protein from membrane to the cytoplasm and nucleus, and the accumulation of beta-catenin in cytoplasma was overt. And the aberrant expression of beta-catenin protein was statistically correlated to the lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer.
Zhou
Xiao-bo
XB
Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, Cancer Institute & Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, P. R. China.
Lu
Ning
N
Zhang
Wei
W
Quan
Lan-ping
LP
Lin
Dong-mei
DM
Wang
Quan-hong
QH
Li
Ya-ling
YL
Xu
Ning-zhi
NZ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D004947:Esophagus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051176:beta Catenin
C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin