STAT3信号蛋白与食管鳞癌上皮间质转化的关系及其意义

Relationship between STAT3 protein expression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

目的:探讨食管鳞癌中STAT3、p-STAT3蛋白表达与食管鳞癌上皮间质转化的关系及其在食管鳞癌浸润转移中的作用.方法:采用免疫组织化学技术检测80例食管鳞癌中STAT3、p-STAT3及上皮间质转化标志物E-cadherin和Vimentin的表达.结果:食管鳞癌组织中STAT3、p-STAT3、E-cadherin和Vimentin蛋白阳性率与癌旁正常组织相比有显著性差异(STAT3:87.5%vs70.0%;p-STAT3:72.5%vs28.8%;E-cadherin:37.5%vs78.8%;Vimentin:48.8%vs0%,均P<0.01).食管鳞癌组织中STAT3、p-STAT3的表达均与E-cadherin的表达呈负相关(r=-0.410,-0.506;均P=0.000),与Vimentin表达均呈正相关(r=0.293,0.321;P=0.008,0.004),且与癌组织的浸润深度密切相关(均P<0.05).结论:信号蛋白STAT3可能参与了食管鳞癌的上皮间质转化过程,并与食管鳞癌的侵袭转移相关.

AIM：To investigate the expression of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 （STAT3） and phosphorylated STAT3 （p-STAT3） in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） and analyze their relationship with epithelialmesenchymal transition and tumor infiltration and metastasis.METHODS：Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of STAT3,p-STAT3,E-cadherin and vimentin in 80 ESCC specimens and matched adjacent non-cancerous tissue specimens.RESULTS：The positive rates of STAT3,p-STAT3,E-cadherin and vimentin in ESCC tissue were significantly different from those in adjacent non-cancerous tissue （87.5% vs 70.0%,72.5% vs 28.8%,37.5% vs 78.8% and 48.8% vs 0%,respectively;all P 0.01）.The expression of STAT3 and p-STAT3 was negatively correlated with E-cadherin expression （r=-0.410 and-0.506,respectively;both P=0.000） but positively with vimentin expression （r=0.293 and 0.321,respectively;P=0.008 and 0.004,respectively） in ESCC tissue.The expression of STAT3 and p-STAT3 was significantly associated with depth of tumor invasion （both P 0.05）.CONCLUSION：Overexpression of STAT3 protein may be involved in EMT and tumor invasion and metastasis in ESCC.