title: Expression and clinical significance of UCH37 in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 37 (UCH37), a member of the DUBs, was found to play an important role in oncogenesis through promoting some Proto-oncogenes' expression and stem cell-like characteristics in the cell in previous research. The aim of this study was to assess the value of UCH37 in predicting tumor recurrence after curative resection in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed UCH37 protein expression in 111 clinicopathologically characterized ESCC cases, from those who underwent curative resection between 2007 and 2008, by immunohistochemistry. The prognostic significance was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and log-rank tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that UCH37 expression was higher in the cancer tissue than in non-tumorous control tissue at protein level and was overexpressed in tumor tissues of recurrent patients. There was a significant difference of UCH37 expression in patients categorized according to TNM stage (p = 0.038) and lymph nodes metastasis condition (p = 0.009). Univariate analyses revealed that UCH37 was a significant predictor for overall survival and disease-free survival, and multivariate analyses showed that UCH37 was an independent prognostic marker for ESCC recurrence. A prognostic significance of UCH37 was also found in the subgroup of lymph nodes metastasis condition classification. About 90 % of the recurrent patients recurred within 2 years, of which 84.4 % were predicted by UCH37.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  UCH37 is associated with outcome and recurrence of ESCC and can be a novel predictor for poor prognosis of ESCC patients after curative resection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Da
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Zongfei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Taotao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yushui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xizhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002268:Carboxypeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002268:Carboxypeptidases; C421245:UCHL5 protein, human; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase