title: Phosphorylation of fascin decreases the risk of poor survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Phosphorylation of fascin at serine 39 (phospho-S39-fascin) could inhibit its actin-binding and actin-bundling activities and decrease filopodia formation. However, the relationship between phospho-S39-fascin expression and clinicopathological parameters in tumors is still unknown. Here, Western blot analysis and IHC applied to tissue microarray technology were performed to examine the expression status of non-phosphorylated fascin (fascin) and phospho-S39-fascin and their impacts on the prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Fascin and phospho-S39-fascin expressions were tested by cytoplasmic staining. Among the 254 patients, 90 cases showed high expression of fascin and 87 cases showed high expression of phospho-S39-fascin. Survival analysis showed that high expression of fascin was significantly associated with a poor prognosis of the patients with ESCC (p=0.004). In contrast, high expression of phospho-S39-fascin correlated significantly with an improved outcome of patients (p=0.020). Multivariate analysis showed that both fascin and phospho-S39-fascin were independent prognostic factors. In a combined analysis, the patients with high expression of fascin and low expression of phospho-S39-fascin tumors had a shorter overall survival than those with high expression of both fascin and phospho-S39-fascin tumors (5-year overall survival rate: 28.7% vs 48.3%, p=0.068). Our results suggest that high expression of fascin correlates with poor outcome and that high expression of phospho-S39-fascin decreases the risk of poor prognosis in ESCC. This manuscript contains online supplemental material at http://www.jhc.org. Please visit this article online to view these materials.
authors: Institute of Oncologic Pathology, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Qing
authors: Q
authors: Zhao
authors: Jin-Hui
authors: JH
authors: Shen
authors: Zhong-Ying
authors: ZY
authors: Shen
authors: Zhi-Yong
authors: ZY
authors: Wu
authors: Xiu-E
authors: XE
authors: Xu
authors: Jian-Jun
authors: JJ
authors: Xie
authors: Jian-Yi
authors: JY
authors: Wu
authors: Qiao
authors: Q
authors: Huang
authors: Xiao-Feng
authors: XF
authors: Lu
authors: En-Min
authors: EM
authors: Li
authors: Li-Yan
authors: LY
authors: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk; D012694:Serine / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; C020324:fascin; D012694:Serine