Expression and clinical significance of LTA4H in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) occurs frequently and is a highly fatal malignant tumor. Identifying molecular markers for early diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC is crucial. Leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H), an inflammatory mediator, was reported to be associated in development of various cancers; however, its role in ESCC remains to be determined. The aim of this study was to determine LTA4H expression levels in ESCC and adjacent nonmalignant esophageal epithelial tissues using tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. Survival analysis was performed to determine the relationship between LTA4H expression and patient survival, as well as expression patterns. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to predict risks associated with various clinicopathological parameters. Expression level of LTA4H in esophageal cancer cell lines was detected using RT-qPCR. Cancer cell lines with high and low LTA4H expression were identified. Data demonstrated that LTA4H expression was upregulated in ESCC tissues. Univariate Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that high LTA4H expression was negatively correlated with patient survival. LTA4H expression was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced pathological tumor-node-metastasis stage. Multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed that LTA4H expression is an independent prognostic factor for poor prognosis in ESCC patients. RT-qPCR results showed that LTA4H expression was higher in KYSE-30 and KYSE-450 cell lines, while lower in TE1 and KYSE-70 cell lines. Our findings demonstrated that high expression of LTA4H was detected in ESCC, which was positively correlated with tumor progression and negatively associated with patient prognosis, suggesting this inflammatory mediator's potential as a biomarker for ESCC.