title: Expression and association of CD44v6 with prognosis in T2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the expression of CD44v6 in stage T2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its prognostic significance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of CD44v6 in a series of 227 ESCC specimens was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). A reproducible semiquantitative method which took both staining percentage and intensity into account was applied for IHC scoring, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was utilized to select the cut-off score for high or low IHC reactivity. Then, the correlations of CD44v6 expression with clinicopathological features of patients and its prognostic relevance were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the present study, the proportion of low CD44v6 expression was found significantly lower in Grade 3 of ESCC, than that of Grade 1 and Grade 2 of ESCC. There are no significant correlations between CD44v6 expression and other clinicopathological parameters including gender, age, tumor size, tumor location, depth of invasion and pathological stage. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that up-regulated expression of CD44v6 indicated a poorer post-operative survival for ESCC patients of stage T2-3N0M0 (P=0.009), especially for those with T2 lesions (P=0.044) or with stage IIB diseases (P=0.005). Multivariate analysis also confirmed that CD44v6 expression [relative risk, 1.639; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.142-2.354, P=0.007] and depth of invasion (relative risk, 1.487; 95% CI: 1.063-2.080, P=0.020) were independent prognostic factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevated CD44v6 expression may be an adverse prognostic indicator for patients with stage T2-3N0M0 ESCC, especially for those with T2 lesions or stage IIB diseases.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Junling
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Jiudi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2 Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China ; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
keywords: CD44v6; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); immunohistochemistry (IHC); prognosis; receiver operating characteristic curve