Wnt2与β-catenin蛋白在食管癌中的表达特点及病理意义

Expression characteristics and pathological significance of Wnt2 and β-catenin in esophageal carcinoma

关键词:  食管癌  Wnt2  β-catenin  蛋白表达  免疫组织化学

Key words:  esophageal carcinomar  Wnt2  β-catenin  protein expression immunohistochemistry

摘要:

[目的]探求Wnt通路相关蛋白Wnt2和β-catenin在食管癌不同病变组织中的表达特点。[方法]将癌旁相对正常食管组织9例、癌前病变38例与手术切除诊断明确的83例食管癌标本，制成石蜡组织微阵列，用免疫组织化学方法检测微阵列组织Wnt2与β-catenin的表达，分析二者表达与食管癌侵袭、转移的关系以及两种蛋白表达的相互关系。 [结果]癌旁相对正常、癌前病变与食管癌组织，Wnt2表达率分别为22.2%、50.0%和72.3%；β-catenin表达率分别为33.3%、47.4%和69.9%，且二者的表达在各组间差异显著升高趋势明显（P<0.05）；两种蛋白在鳞癌的表达率（77.9%、75.0%）均显著高于腺癌（46.7%、46.7%）,P<0.05；淋巴结转移组的表达率（86.4%、81.8%）均显著高于无淋巴结转移组（56.4%、56.4%），P<0.05； 在侵润深度T3、4组的表达率（81.0%、82.8%）均明显高于T1、2 组（52.0%、40.0%）,P<0.05。在临床I-II期与III-IV期标本Wnt2蛋白表达率分别为62.8%与82.5%，后者显著高于前者(P<0.05)，但β-catenin表达率在两组间差异无显著性意义(P>0.05)。Wnt2与β-catenin表达呈正相关关系（P<0.05，r=0.740）。 [结论]Wnt通路中的重要分子Wnt2与β-catenin蛋白异常表达可能为食管癌发生、演进中重要的分子事件，可作为食管癌诊断及预后预测的候选生物标记物。

Abstract:

[Objective]To profile the expression characteristics and clinical significance of Wnt2 and β-catenin proteins in esophageal carcinoma.[Methods]Nine of normal esophagus tissues, 38 precancerous lesions and 83 esophageal carcinomas (EC) were embeded to form tissue array. The expressions of Wnt2 and β-catenin were detected with immunohistochemistry, and the relations of the two protein expressions to invasiveness and metastasis of the carcinoma as well as correlation between Wnt2 and β-catenin were analyzed. [Results]In normal tissue, precancerous lesion and EC, the expression rates of Wnt2 were 22.2%, 50.0% and 72.3%, respectively(P<0.05), the rates of β-catenin were 33.3%, 47.4% and 69.9%, respectively(P<0.05). The Wnt2 and β-catenin expression in metastatic LN positive EC group（86.4% and 81.8%）and T3,4 group（81.0% and 82.8%）showed significantly higher expression rate of the two proteins than the LN negative group （56.4% and 56.4%）and T1,2 group（52.0% and 40.0%）, P<0.05. Statistical significance of Wnt2 expression (82.5% and 62.8%, P<0.05) but not β-catenin (62.5% and 76.7%, P>0.05) could be established between the III-IV stage group and I-II stage group.（3） Positive correlation between Wnt2 and β-catenin expression could be observed (P<0.05, r=0.740). [Conclusion]The expression frequencies of presentation of Wnt signaling, Wnt2 and β-catenin, increase from noncancerous tissues to tumor and show close relationship with EC invasion and metastasis. It indicates that Wnt2 and β-catenin contributes to invasion and progression of EC and of important value as potential biomarker in molecular diagnosis and prognosis prediction.