[Expression of fascin and cytokeratin 14 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression of fascin and cytokeratin 14 (CK14) in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the association of these two proteins with ESCC malignant progression and the possibility of application of these 2 proteins in the diagnosis of ESCC.


METHODS
A tissue microarray composed of the representative regions of ESCC and corresponding normal epithelium was constructed. Immunohistochemistry was conducted to examine the expression of fascin and CD14 in 116 specimens of ESCC and the normal tissues near the cancerous tissues. The relation of these two proteins with the invasive depth, node involvement, differentiated grade, pTNM stages was analyzed. Disease-free survival analysis was carried out using Kaplan-Meier method. The correlation of the two proteins was analyzed using Spearman's correlation test. ESCC cells of the lines EC9706, TE12, COLO-680N, KYSE510, KYSE450, KYSE410, KYSE180, KYSE150, KYSE140, KYSE70, KYSE30, and YES2 were cultured and underwent SDS-PAGE and Western blotting to examine the expression of fascin and CD14. And the correlation of the two proteins with the characteristics of the cell lines was analyzed too.


RESULTS
Fascin and CK14 were negative in the normal esophageal epithelia except in the basal cells. The positive rates of fascin and CK14 in the ESCC cells were 79.3% and 67.0% respectively. The positive rate of either fascin or CK14 was 86.2%. The expression rates of fascin and CK14 in well- and moderately-differentiated ESCCs were significantly higher than that in the poorly-differentiated ones (P = 0.054 and P < 0.01). The patients with positive expression of fascin and those with negative expression of CK14 had a poorer survival in comparison with those with negative fascin expression and those with positive CK14 expression respectively, however, without statistical significances (P = 0.8980 and P = 0.2610). The positive rates of fascin in the well-, moderately-, and poorly- differentiated ESCCs were 87.1%, 83.9%, and 62.1% respectively (P = 0.054). The positive rates of CK14 in the well-, moderately-, and poorly-differentiated ESCCs were; 87.1%, 76.4%, and 27.6% respectively (P < 0.01). The prognosis was not significantly correlated with the expression of both proteins (P = 0.8980 and P = 0.2610). There was an significantly positive correlation between the expression levels of these 2 proteins (r = 0.487, P < 0.01). Fascin was highly expressed in most of the ESCC lines, except in the slowly growing and weakly migrating TE12 line. High expression of CK14 was only seen in the line KYSE180.


CONCLUSIONS
Fascin and CK14 may play important roles in the carcinogenesis and progression of ESCC. Combination of fascin and CK14 would be valuable markers in diagnosis of ESCC.
Xue
Li-Yan
LY
Department of Pathology, Cancer Institute (Hospital), Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Song
Yong-Mei
YM
Tong
Tong
T
Luo
Wei
W
Dong
Li-Jia
LJ
Zou
Shuang-Mei
SM
Zheng
Shan
S
Bi
Rui
R
Zhan
Qi-Min
QM
Lü
Ning
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053547:Keratin-14 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D053547:Keratin-14; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C020324:fascin