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Updated: Jul 11, 2026
Development of Compendium for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 12, 2024
h-Prune is an independent prognostic marker for survival in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Tsuyoshi Noguchi1, Naohide Oue, Shinsuke Wada
1Department of Oncological Science (Surgery II), Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Oita, Japan.
Background:
The human homologue of Drosophila prune (PRUNE, which encodes h-prune) protein interacts with glycogen synthase kinase 3 and promotes cell motility. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of immunohistochemically detected h-prune expression on the survival of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
Methods:
Immunohistochemical staining of h-prune was performed for 205 surgically resected specimens of ESCC.
Results:
In total, 43 (21%) of 205 ESCC cases were positive for h-prune. h-prune-positive ESCC cases showed a more-advanced T stage (P < 0.0001), N stage (P < 0.0001), and tumor stage (P < 0.0001) than h-prune-negative ESCC cases. In the group of 116 stage II and III ESCC cases, recurrence of ESCC was frequently found in h-prune-positive cases. In patients with lung recurrence, the tumors were more likely to be h-prune positive than h-prune negative. Univariate analysis revealed that T stage (P < 0.0001), N stage (P < 0.0001), tumor stage (P < 0.0001), and h-prune staining (P < 0.0001) were significant prognostic factors for survival. Multivariate analysis indicated that N stage (P = 0.0182) and h-prune staining (P < 0.0001) were independent predictors for survival.
Conclusions:
These results indicate that immunostaining of h-prune is useful to identify patients at high risk for recurrence or poor prognosis associated with ESCC.
