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Prognostic significance of caspase-3 expression in primary resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Jiun-Yi Hsia1, Chih-Yi Chen, Jung-Ta Chen
1Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, 160 Sec. 3 Taichung-Kang Road, Taichung, Taiwan. hjy@vghtc.vghtc.gov.tw
Aims:
The present study retrospectively examines the expression of caspase-3 in primary resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the correlation between the outcome of patients and the expression of proteins.
Methods:
Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analyses were used to analyse the expression of caspase-3 in 40 archival specimens of patients with primary resected ESCC.
Results:
According to our cut-off point of the staining for caspase-3, 24 (60%) cases were positive and 16 (40%) negative. Caspase-3 expression correlated with a significant favorable prognosis in primary resected ESCC (P=0.02). A multivariate analysis of clinical and biological factors indicated that stage, tumor differentiation, and caspase-3 expression were independent prognostic factors.
Conclusions:
Caspase-3 expression might be a good and new prognostic indicator for primary resected ESCC.