title: Tumor budding as a useful prognostic marker in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: We examined the prognostic significance of tumor budding in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, particularly in comparison to other routine pathological findings. Fifty-six cases who underwent an esophagectomy were reviewed. We defined tumor budding as an isolated single cancer cell or a cluster composed of fewer than five cancer cells and divided these into two grades; low-grade (< 5 budding foci) and high-grade (> or = 5 budding foci) within a microscopic field of x 200. There were 22 (39.3%) and 34 (60.7%) cases with low- and high-grade budding, respectively. There were significant differences in the patients with low- and high-grade budding in relation to tumor size, pT stage, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, circumferential resection margin involvement, and AJCC stage (P < 0.05). The 3-year survival rates of the patients with low- and high-grade budding were 72.3% and 30.7%, respectively (P = 0.04). We propose that tumor budding may be a pathological marker suggesting high malignancy potential and decreased postoperative survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Center for Cancer Molecular Therapy, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea. msroh@netian.com
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Roh
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers