Expression levels of WWOX and ERK1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and their clinicopathologic significance

ObjectiveTo explore the expression levels of WW domain-containing oxidoreductase(WWOX) and extracellular signal regulated protein kinase 1(ERK1) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC), and their correlations with the clinical characteristics.

MethodsThe expression levels of WWOX and ERK1 protein in 150 specimens of ESCC and 80 normal esophageal mucosa tissues were examined using EliVision^TM plus immunohistochemistry.

ResultsThe positive rates of WWOX and ERK1 protein in ESCC tissues and normal esophageal tissues were 46.0% & 58.7% and 85.0% & 42.5%, respectively, and the differences of those between two groups were statistically significant(P < 0.05).The positive rate of WWOX protein expression was negatively correlated with the positive rate of ERK1 protein in ESCC tissues(P < 0.01).The differences of the positive expression rates of WWOX and ERK1 protein in ESCC patients with different tumor tissue invasion depth, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis were statistically significant(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).The results of survival analysis showed that the survival time of patients with positive WWOX expression was higher than that of patients with negative WWOX expression(P < 0.05).The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that the positive WWOX and ERK1 protein expression and TNM stage were the independent influencing factors of postoperative survival of ESCC patients(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).

ConclusionsThe abnormal expression of WWOX and ERK1 may be involved in the occurrence, progression and metastasis of ESCC.The combined detection of WWOX and ERK1 in early stage has an important role in predicting the progression and prognosis of ESCC.