Guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1) promotes lymph node metastasis in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Lymphatic metastasis is an important determinant of aggressive malignant tumors. Identification of key genes that regulate carcinoma cell metastasis will aid in understanding progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1) is a GTP-binding protein family member with high GTPase activity. While the role of GBP1 has been demonstrated in colorectal cancer (CRC) and ovarian cancer, such a role has not been identified in ESCC. Herein, we assessed GBP1 expression in ESCC via immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of 215 clinical ESCC specimens and found that the expression of GBP1 was significantly upregulated in lymph node metastatic ESCCs compared with non-metastatic cases. We further demonstrated that GBP1 expression was increased with epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulus in ESCC cell lines and had a positive correlation with EGFR expression in ESCC tissue samples. Finally, we found that overexpression of GBP1 in ESCC cells induced more lymph node metastasis in an animal model. In summary, our results demonstrate that GBP1 promotes lymph node metastasis and has a positive correlation with EGFR expression in ESCC.