title: Cytoplasmic expression of the ELAV-like protein HuR as a potential prognostic marker in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most frequent cancers and a leading cause of death from cancer in China. The human ELAV-like protein HuR has been found to contribute to cancer development and progression through stabilizing a group of cellular mRNAs of cancer-related genes. In this study, we investigated the expression of HuR in a cohort of ESCC patients using immunohistochemical staining. HuR detected in the cytoplasm of cancer cells was positive in 46.6% of 58 ESCC specimens; 75.9% of these specimens had nuclear immunoreactivity for HuR. Cytoplasmic HuR expression was higher in cancer tissues compared to 20 matched adjacent noncancerous tissues. A clinicopathological study showed that cytoplasmic HuR expression was positively associated with lymph node metastasis, depth of tumor invasion, and advanced stage, whereas nuclear HuR expression was not correlated with any clinicopathological factors. Patients positive for cytoplasmic HuR expression had a cumulative 5-year survival rate of 25.3%, whereas it was 43.8% for patients negative for cytoplasmic HuR expression. In a multivariate analysis, cytoplasmic HuR expression was an independent prognostic factor, whereas nuclear positivity for HuR was not. Our results indicate that high cytoplasmic HuR expression is associated with positive lymph node metastasis, deep tumor invasion, high stage, and poor survival in ESCC. Thus, HuR is the first mRNA stability protein whose expression is associated with poor survival in esophageal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, General Hospital, Jinan Command of the People's Liberation Army, Shifan Street 25, Tianqiao District, Jinan, 250031, China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Guoliang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Jingwang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Huili
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Baocheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D051959:ELAV Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D000077277:Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D051959:ELAV Proteins