[Up-regulation of HOXA13 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma of stage IIa and its effect on the prognosis].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression of HOXA13 gene in stage-II(a esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC), and to evaluate its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.


METHODS
The expression of HOXA13 was examined by immunohistochemistry(IHC) in specimens from 39 patients with ESCC of stage-II(a, who underwent resection from 1995 to 2002. SPSS software was used to analyze the relationship between HOXA13 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients.


RESULTS
The expression of HOXA13 protein was detected in ESCC tissue, and the positive rate was 61.5%. The median survival time of patients without HOXA13 expression(>72 months) was significantly longer than those with HOXA13 expression (24 months)( P=0.023). Multivariate analysis showed that HOXA13 expression was independent predictor of disease-free survival time of patients with ESCC.


CONCLUSIONS
The expression of HOXA13 can be detected in ESCC and is a negative independent predictor of disease-free survival, which implies that HOXA13 might play a role in ESSC, and may be used as a clinical tumor marker of ESCC.
Yan
Wan-Pu
WP
Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Peking University School of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital, Beijing 100036, China.
Shen
Lu-Yan
LY
Gu
Zhen-Dong
ZD
Chen
Ke-Neng
KN
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis
D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C099959:homeobox protein HOXA13