Stathmin overexpression identifies high risk for lymphatic metastatic recurrence in pN0 esophageal squamous cell...

Common patterns of the operative failure after Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients are locoregional lymph node metastasis. It is clinically significant to investigate the biological markers to predict the subset of patients who are at higher risk of lymphatic metastatic recurrence. Our research aimed to investigate the association between the Stathmin (STMN-1) gene expression and lymphatic metastatic recurrence in pN0 ESCC patients after surgery.

One hundred seventy-four patients who suffered from mid-thoracic ESCC and completely resected with Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy were enrolled in our study. The entire patients were restricted to pN0 ESCC. Tissue specimens were examined for STMN-1 expression levels by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting methods. The correlation of STMN-1 levels with clinicopathological variables, prognosis, and metastatic potential was analyzed.

One hundred patients had STMN-1 protein overexpression (57.47%), and the patients with overexpression were accompanied by significantly higher rate of lymphatic metastatic recurrence as compared with patients who had low STMN-1 expression (P = 0.003). Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that the STMN-1 protein expression and T classification were independent factors to predict the lymphatic metastatic recurrence (P = 0.007, P = 0.000, respectively).

Even pN0 ESCC are a potential to lymphatic metastatic recurrence. Stathmin overexpression can be used as a marker to identify those patients who are at high risk for lymphatic metastatic recurrence in pN0 ESCC after an Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy.