Background: The purpose of the present study was to examine the expression of cell cycle regulators [p53, p21WAF1/CIP1 (p21), and Rb] and apoptosis related proteins Bax and Bcl-X(L) and to evaluate the relationship between their expressions and clinicopathological findings in patients with superficial squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus.
Methods: We immunohistochemically investigated the expression of p53, p21, Rb, Bax, and Bcl-X(L) in 79 patients with superficial esophageal carcinoma.
Results: p21 overexpression was found in mucosal carcinoma (P = 0.05) and a high Bcl-X(L) score was observed for submucosal carcinoma (P = 0.03). The patients with high Bcl-X(L) score had more frequent lymphatic invasion and lymph node metastasis than did those with low Bcl-X(L) score (P < 0.05). Univariate analysis revealed significantly shorter survival in patients with high Bcl-X(L) expression than in those with low Bcl-X(L) expression, but Bcl-X(L) expression was not identified as an independent prognostic factor by multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: Because Bcl-X(L) expression correlated well with depth of tumor invasion, lymphatic invasion, and lymph node metastasis, examination of Bcl-X(L) expression will help to estimate the properties in superficial squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.