title: Significance of elevated ERK expression and its positive correlation with EGFR in Kazakh patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) are activated by the MAPK pathway. ERKs are downstream effectors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which belongs to the receptor tyrosine kinases family. Studies on the activation of the EGFR-ERK pathway in Kazakh patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) have not been reported. Using immunohistochemical staining on tissue microarrays, we investigated the protein expression of EGFR and ERK in 90 ethnic Kazakh patients with ESCC and 48 adjacent normal esophageal tissues (NETs). EGFR and ERK1 expression was localized in the cytoplasm, whereas ERK2 expression was localized in the nucleus. Both were more highly expression in the ESCC tissues than in the NETs, and the difference was considered significant (P=0.003, 0.002, and 0.005, respectively). ERK1 and EGFR expression was positively correlated with lymph nodes metastasis (P=0.011 and 0.013, respectively). ERK1 staining was also significantly associated with tumor-node-metastases stage of ESCC (P=0.044). ERK2 staining was significantly associated with Histological grade (P=0.012). Furthermore, ERK1 and EGFR expression in the ESCC tissues were positively correlated (r=0.413, P<0.001); EGFR was more highly expressed in the ESCC tissues with high ERK1 expression than in the ESCC tissues with low ERK1 expression (4.95±0.57 vs. 3.21±0.35, P=0.01). This study is thus far the first to demonstrate the correlation between EGFR overexpression and ERK overexpression in Kazakh patients with ESCC. This correlation suggests that the EGFR-ERK signaling pathway participates in ESCC progression and can thus be used as a prognostic marker.
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China ; Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Xiaobin
authors: X
authors: Cui
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Su
authors: S
authors: Li
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Tingting
authors: T
authors: Li
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Xuelian
authors: X
authors: Pang
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Shumao
authors: S
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Jin
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Jianming
authors: J
authors: Hu
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Chunxia
authors: C
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Lan
authors: L
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Peng
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Jinfang
authors: J
authors: Jiang
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Weihua
authors: W
authors: Liang
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Suo
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China ; Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Feng
authors: F
authors: Li
authors: Department of Pathology and Key Laboratory for Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Diseases, Shihezi University School of Medicine Shihezi, China.
authors: Yunzhao
authors: Y
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001706:Biopsy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000556:secondary*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000201:enzymology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000201:enzymology; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology; D000077277:Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 / Q000032:analysis*; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 / Q000032:analysis*; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015398:Signal Transduction; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors; C535150:MAPK1 protein, human; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3
keywords: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; Kazakh; epidermal growth factor receptor; extracellular signal-regulated kinase