title: Down-regulation of stromal caveolin-1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a potent predictor of lymph node metastases, early tumor recurrence, and poor prognosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies have identified loss of stromal caveolin-1 (Cav-1) expression as a new prognostic histological characteristic in various types of human cancers. However, the clinical and pathological significance of stromal Cav-1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains largely unknown. We examined Cav-1 expression in both tumor and stromal cells in ESCC tissue by immunohistochemical analysis to evaluate its clinicopathological significance and prognostic value.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 110 patients with ESCC who underwent surgical resection were included in this study. The expression of Cav-1 in both tumor and stromal cells in esophageal tumor tissues was examined immunohistochemically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cav-1 expression was found in the cytoplasm of both tumor and stromal cells. Tumor Cav-1 overexpression was observed in 37.3 % tumors, which correlated to deeper tumor invasion (p = 0.038). Down-regulation of stromal Cav-1 expression was observed in 40.9 % tumors. The stromal Cav-1 down-regulation group had more lymph node metastases and more locoregional recurrences than those with higher expression (p = 0.020 and p = 0.002, respectively). In addition, down-regulation of stromal Cav-1 expression was associated with shorter disease-free survival (p < 0.001) and overall survival (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that down-regulation of stromal Cav-1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for both disease-free survival (p = 0.028) and overall survival (p = 0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Down-regulation of stromal Cav-1 expression in ESCC had high malignant potential. It predicts high-risk of lymph node metastases and locoregional recurrence, and it could be a powerful prognostic marker for patients with ESCC.
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yibin
authors: Y
authors: Jia
authors: Nana
authors: N
authors: Wang
authors: Jianbo
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Tian
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Ma
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Wang
authors: Bingxu
authors: B
authors: Tan
authors: Guangyu
authors: G
authors: Zhang
authors: Shengsi
authors: S
authors: Yang
authors: Bing
authors: B
authors: Bai
authors: Yufeng
authors: Y
authors: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D051242:Caveolin 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051242:Caveolin 1