Abstract:
Objective To determine the expression differences of MT-1, -2, and -3 in esophageal cancer, as well as the relationship of these differences with the clinicopathological parameters.
Methods A total of 114 esophageal cancer patients were randomly selected from the Department of Thoracic Surgery of The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University from July 2008 to July 2009. The patients included 64 males and 50 females aged 40-75 years (mean = 61 years). The tumor was located in the upper third of the esophagus for 21 cases, in the middle third for 58 cases, and in the lower third for 35 cases. Based on the UICC TNM staging of esophageal cancer (2009), there were 34, 36, 31, and 13 cases of stages IIa, IIb, III, and IVa, respectively. All were squamous cell carcinoma with 59, 36, and 19 cases of well-, moderately, and poorly differentiated carcinoma, respectively. The entire cell protein of these tissues was extracted, and the expression of MT-1, -2, and -3 was detected by Western blot analysis. MT-1, -2, and -3 expression in normal esophageal tissue was compared with that in tumor tissue. The correlation of MT expression with the clinicopathological parameters was examined. The correlation of the expression of MT-3 with those of MT-1 and-2 were also analyzed.
Results The expression of MT-1, -2, and -3 was higher in esophageal cancer tissues than in adjacent normal tissues (MT-1 and -2: t= 5.214, P < 0.01; MT-3: t= 4.287, P < 0.01). The expression of MT-1, -2, and -3 in tumor tissue was associated with the tumor pathological stage (MT-1 and-2: rs= 0.896, P < 0.01; MT-3: rs=-0.501, P < 0.01) and tumor differentiation MT-1 and-2: rs =-0.548, P < 0.01; MT-3: rs = 0.664, P < 0.01), but was not closely related with the tumor site (MT-1 and -2: rs= 0.253, P > 0.05; MT-3: rs= 0.172, P > 0.05).
Conclusion The expression levels of MT-1 to -3 in esophageal cancer tissue were significantly higher than in adjacent normal tissue. This high expression was closely related with the occurrence, development, and differentiation of esophageal carcinoma. The expression of MT-3 obviously differed from that of MT-1 and -2 in esophageal cancer.