Expression of DPC4 gene in esophageal carcinoma and its significance

Objective: To investigate the correlationship between the expressions of DPC4 and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in esophageal carcinoma and their clinicopathological behavior.Methods: The expressions of DPC4 and VEGF proteins were examined by immunohistochemical method in 174 cases of esophageal carcinoma tissues.Results: The positive rates of DPC4 in normal esophageal mucosa.and esophageal carcinoma were 80% and 40.8%,respectively(P<0.005).The expression of DPC4 was higher in adenocarcinomas than in squamous carcinomas(P<0.05).With the depression of differentiation,the positive rate of DPC4 descended,but was not significant(P>0.05).The DPC4 expression of the group with lymph node metastasis was lower than the group without that(P<0.005).But the positive rates of VEGF in normal esophageal mucosa.and esophageal carcinoma were 23.3% and 43.1%,respectively(P<0.005).With the depression of differentiation,the positive rate of VEGF ascend.The VEGF expression of the group with lymph node metastasis was higher than the group without that(P<0.05).The expression of DPC4 was nagtive correlated with the expression of VEGF(P<0.001).Conclusions: The low expression of DPC4 is an important factor of esophageal carcinoma occurrence;The low expression of DPC4 may accelerate creating blood vessels and lymph node metastasis of esophageal carcinoma.