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Updated: Mar 11, 2026

Development of Compendium for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 12, 2024
P21, COX-2, and E-cadherin are potential prognostic factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Yao Lin1, Lu-Yan Shen1, Hao Fu1
1Department of Thoracic Surgery I, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Much research effort has been devoted to identifying prognostic factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by immunohistochemistry; however, no conclusive findings have been reached thus far. We hypothesized that certain molecules identified in previous studies might serve as useful prognostic markers for ESCC. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to validate the most relevant markers showing potential for ESCC prognosis in our prospective esophageal cancer database. A literature search was performed using the PubMed database for papers published between 1980 and 2015 using the following key words: 'esophageal cancer,' 'prognosis,' and 'immunohistochemistry.' Literature selection criteria were established to identify the most widely studied markers, and we further validated the selected markers in a cohort from our single-surgeon team, including 153 esophageal cancer patients treated from 2000 to 2010. A total of 1799 articles were identified, 82 of which met the selection criteria. Twelve markers were found to be the most widely studied, and the validation results indicated that only P21, COX-2, and E-cadherin were independent prognostic factors for ESCC patients in this series. The systemic review and cohort validation suggest that P21, COX-2, and E-cadherin are potential prognostic factors for ESCC, paving the way for more targeted prospective validation in the future.
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