Correlation between CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays important role in development and tumorigenesis. The accumulation of β-catenin in cytoplasm/nucleus leads to many diseases including cancer. In the normal cells, β-catenin is phosphorylated by CKIα and GSK-3, then phosphorylated β-catenin is sequentially degraded. However, the exact role and correlation of CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains little known.

The present study was aimed at exploring the role and the correlation between the expression of CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation in ESCC.

The expression of CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation were detected by immunohistochemical technique in 90 cases of ESCC and their corresponding adjacent nonneoplastic esophageal tissues (n=90), and evaluated the correlation between the expression of CK1α, phosphorylation at Ser45 of β-catenin and clinicopathological parameters of ESCC patients.

The lever of the expression of CK1α in ESCC was 63.3% (57/90), significantly lower than that in nonneoplastic esophageal tissues was 84.4% (76/90), (X²=16.567, P=0.000). The lever of the expression of phosphorylation at Ser45 of β-catenin in ESCC was 65.6% (59/90), significantly lower than that in nonneoplastic esophageal tissues was 88.9% (80/90), (X²=10.340, P=0.003). The expression of CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation was significantly related to the degree of tumor cell differentiation, but not with age, gender, tumor size, AJCC clinical stage and lymphatic metastasis. And CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation expression were also positively correlated (0.356, P=0.001).

CK1α and β-catenin Ser45-phosphorylation may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of ESCC, and provide clinically useful information.