Evaluation of iNOS Expression in Esophageal Cancer Patients

Esophageal cancer is a public health concern around the world; this cancer is the sixth leading cause of death of cancer in the world with about 386,000 deaths per year. Its risk factors include environmental factors such as tobacco smoke, gastroesophageal reflux and genetic changes. iNOS is stated by the effect of various inflammatory factors and is thus called inducible NOS. Investigating iNOS expression is a powerful tool for understanding effective molecular parameters at tissue and cellular responses to external factors. In this research work, iNOS expression in patients with esophageal cancer was studied in Iran.

15 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) esophageal cancer tissue samples and 15 normal FFPE samples were collected from various medical centers (Zabol, Zahedan, Kashan) to measure iNOS expression by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR). All PCR reactions were conducted by three replicates for iNOS and internal control (β-actin) by 2^-ΔΔCT (Livak) method. Differences were measured in target gene expression in patients and control group using the t test. All statistical analyses were done using the SPSS software.

The results showed that there was no significant difference between iNOS expression in the case and control groups (p > 0.05); however, there was an increase in iNOS expression in the case group. On the other hand, there was a significant difference between iNOS expression in males and females in the two groups of healthy subjects and patients, and it was higher in women than in men.

Further studies need to be conducted with larger sample sizes and in other populations to validate these findings.