Downregulated ECRG4 is correlated with lymph node metastasis and predicts poor outcome for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.
OBJECTIVE
Esophageal cancer-related gene 4 (ECRG4) is a new candidate tumor suppressor gene. In this retrospective study, we evaluated ECRG4 protein expression in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) under curative treatment and examined its association with pathological features and clinical outcomes as a possible biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of NPC.


METHODS
We enrolled 122 patients with a first diagnosis between January 2001 and December 2003. Tumor tissue and control tissue from biopsies underwent immunohistochemical staining for ECRG4. ECRG4 expression was analyzed by clinicopathological variables. After Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, we used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the predictive effect of ECRG4 expression on overall survival.


RESULTS
ECRG4 protein level was lower in NPC than control tissue (P < 0.01). It was inversely related to node status (P < 0.001) and clinical stage (P = 0.027). ECRG4 expression was associated with overall survival, and downregulated ECRG4 expression was an independent prognostic factor of poor survival (hazard ratio = 0.677, 95 % confidence interval 0.463-0.989, P = 0.044).


CONCLUSIONS
A significant NPC patients showed downregulated ECRG4 expression, which is correlated with lymph node metastasis. The marker could be an independent prognostic factor for NPC patients. The precise function of ECRG4 in the progression of NPC, especially for lymphatic metastasis, deserves further investigation, which would bring a new target for personalized therapy.
Oncological Research Lab, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
J-Y
JY
Chen
Oncological Research Lab, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.|Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
X
X
Wu
Oncological Research Lab, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
C-Q
CQ
Hong
Department of Radiotherapy, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
J
J
Chen
Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
X-L
XL
Wei
Department of Gynecologic Surgery, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
L
L
Zhou
Health Care Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, 3/F, Science and Education Building, 52 Southern Dongxia Road, Shantou, 515041, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
H-X
HX
Zhang
Health Care Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, 3/F, Science and Education Building, 52 Southern Dongxia Road, Shantou, 515041, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China. g_ythuang@stu.edu.cn.
Y-T
YT
Huang
Clinical Laboratory, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 7 Raoping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China. st_penglin@126.com.|Environmental Medicine and Developmental Toxicity, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China. st_penglin@126.com.
L
L
Peng
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002277:Carcinoma; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D055815:Young Adult
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C476999:ECRG4 protein, human; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
Esophageal cancer-related gene 4; Lymphatic metastasis; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Prognostic biomarker; Survival analysis