Expression of CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Prognostic Value of SDF-1α Expression in Patients with Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Receiving Esophagectomy

Stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) is a chemokine that has been reported to be involved in tumor progression in several malignancies. This study aimed to evaluate the crucial role of SDF-1α in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who underwent esophagectomy. A total of 169 patients with ESCC were identified, including overexpression of SDF-1α in 60 patients and low expression of SDF-1α in 109 patients by immunohistochemical analysis. Two ESCC cell lines, TE1 and KYSE30, were selected to evaluate the tumor cell proliferative effect of SDF-1α. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that high tumor (T) status, positive lymph node metastasis, tumors located in the upper esophagus, and SDF-1α overexpression were significantly related to worse disease-free survival and overall survival. In addition, the two cell lines were treated with SDF-1α, AMD3100 (an SDF-1α-ligand receptor antagonist), and chemotherapeutic agents (cisplatin). Our in vitro study results showed that SDF-1α promoted the proliferation of tumor cells, and blocking the SDF-1α pathway displayed a growth inhibition effect in a dose-dependent manner. SDF-1α plays an important role in the progression of ESCC and is an independent prognostic factor for ESCC patients who underwent esophagectomy.

The Serum Concentrations of Chemokine CXCL12 and Its Specific Receptor CXCR4 in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Objectives. Recent investigations have suggested that upregulated levels of inflammatory biomarkers, such as chemokines, may be associated with development of many malignancies, including esophageal cancer (EC). Based on our knowledge, this study is the first to assess the serum concentration of chemokine CXCL12 and its specific receptor CXCR4 in the diagnosis of EC patients. Material and Methods. The present study included 79 subjects: 49 patients with EC and 30 healthy volunteers. The serum concentrations of CXCL12 and CXCR4 and classical tumor markers such as carcinoembryonal antigen (CEA) and squamous cell cancer antigen (SCC-Ag) were measured using immunoenzyme assays, while C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were assessed by immunoturbidimetric method. Moreover, diagnostic criteria of all proteins tested and the survival of EC patients were assessed. Results. The serum concentrations of CXCL12 were significantly higher, while those of its receptor CXCR4 were significantly lower in EC patients compared to healthy controls. The diagnostic sensitivity, negative predictive value, and accuracy of CXCR4 were the highest among all analyzed proteins and increased for combined analysis with classical tumor markers and CRP levels. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that serum CXCR4 may improve the diagnosis of EC patients, especially in combination with classical tumor markers.

SDF-1α may be an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer

AIM: To explore the relationship between the expression of stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer patients.

METHODS: The expression of SDF-1α in gastric cancer tissues from 152 patients was detected by immunohistochemistry. The correlations of SDF-1α with clinicopathologic features were analyzed.

RESULTS: SDF-1α expression was significantly correlated with tumor lymphatic vessel invasion (P = 0.016) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.003), but not with patients age, gender, tumor size, gross type, depth of invasion or degree of differentiation (P = 0.003). Undifferentiated histology (HR = 3.312; 95%CI: 1.414-7.825, P = 0.008), lymphatic vessel invasion (HR = 11.215; 95%CI: 2.780-45.978, P = 0.002) and SDF-1α expression (HR = 3.194; 95%CI: 1.313-7.296, P = 0.013) were identified to be risk factors for gastric cancer. Undifferentiated histology (HR = 3.054; 95%CI: 1.176-8.614, P = 0.039), lymphatic vessel invasion (HR = 8.651; 95%CI: 1.731-44.959, P = 0.008) and SDF-1α expression (HR = 2.219; 95%CI: 1.327-10.346, P = 0.015) were also identified to be independent risk factors for lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer patients.

CONCLUSION: SDF-1α may be an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer.

Cytokines association with clinical and pathological changes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Carcinogenic transformation of cells in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is characterized on molecular level by, among other things, changes in protein expression. Among all proteins related to inflammation, cytokines may be implicated as possible biological markers of esophageal cancer. These biomarkers, near imaging techniques, may be helpful in diagnosis and monitoring therapy in ESCC patients. This review demonstrates findings of researches on dysregulation of cytokines in ESCC and their clinical and pathological implications. Articles on cytokines were selected according to the following criteria: (i) the study was performed at protein level, (ii) the differences in cytokines expression or concentration were detected in tissues or serum from ESCC patients, (iii) the alterations of cytokines levels were detected by: immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot (WB) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Members of VEGF family seem to play an essential role as potential markers in ESCC. The results of all cytokines researches are promising but further studies are necessary to establish the biological significance of these peptydes in ESCC, their potential usefulness for early diagnosis, pre- and postoperative prognosis and monitoring of the respond to chemo- and radiotherapy of cancer patients.