title: Endothelin protein expression as a significant prognostic factor in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate if the expression of endothelin (ET), a vasoactive peptide, in cancerous oesophageal lesions, adjacent dysplastic tissue and normal mucosa might be prognostic. Tissue samples from a total of 101 patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma were obtained and stained with ET antibody in an immunohistochemical analysis. High staining levels of ET within normal mucosa were related to lymph vessel invasion, regional lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis, as well as a reduced relapse-free survival (log-rank test; P=0.0066). After adjustment for several histological prognostic risk factors and each component of the TNM classification system, high ET expression within dysplastic tissue more than doubled the hazard ratio of relapse with significant model improvement. These results suggest that, in addition to known histological risk factors and TNM classification criteria, measurement of ET expression with a simple immunohistochemical analysis might further help in predicting the prognosis of patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanyu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakada
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Urashima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D016232:Endothelins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D016232:Endothelins