title: Clinical significance of the expression of activin A in esophageal carcinoma.
abstract: Activin A is a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) superfamily and is a strong differentiation factor of embryonic stem (ES) cells. It is unknown whether activin A has any correlation with carcinoma cell differentiation. We investigated the expression of activin-betaA (Act-betaA) which is a subunit of activin A, its receptor type I and IIb (ActRI, ActRIIb) and its inhibitor, inhibin-alpha (Inh-alpha), which is a subunit of inhibin A in esophageal carcinoma by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Act-betaA was overexpressed in carcinoma tissues significantly (p=0.030). On the other hand, Inh-alpha, ActRI and ActRIIb were neither overexpressed, nor suppressed. In immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization analysis, Act-betaA expression was mainly derived from carcinoma cells. The mRNA expression of Act-betaA was not associated with carcinoma cell differentiation but lymph node metastasis (n0, 1, 2 vs. n3, 4; p=0.013) and clinical stage (I, II, III vs. IV; p=0.026). Moreover, patients with high mRNA expression of Act-betaA had a tendency to show poor prognosis compared to those with low mRNA expression (p=0.064). The finding indicated that activin A expression might not be associated with carcinoma cell differentiation but tumor aggressiveness such as lymph node metastasis in esophageal carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Surgical Oncology, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Beppu 874-0838, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshinaga
authors.forename: Koshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mimori
authors.forename: Keishi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Utsunomiya
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D029404:Activin Receptors / Q000235:genetics; D028341:Activins / Q000235:genetics*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D028322:Inhibin-beta Subunits / Q000235:genetics*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D000077294:Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II; D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015996:Survival Rate; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta; C422405:activin A; D028341:Activins; D028322:Inhibin-beta Subunits; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D029404:Activin Receptors; D000077294:Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II