TY - JOUR T1 - ZEB1 expression is associated with prognosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma JF - Journal of Clinical Pathology JO - J Clin Pathol SP - 593 LP - 599 DO - 10.1136/jclinpath-2015-203115 VL - 69 IS - 7 AU - Katsumi Terashita AU - Makoto Chuma AU - Yutaka Hatanaka AU - Kanako Hatanaka AU - Tomoko Mitsuhashi AU - Hideki Yokoo AU - Takumi Ohmura AU - Hiroyuki Ishizu AU - Shunji Muraoka AU - Atsushi Nagasaka AU - Takahiro Tsuji AU - Yoshiya Yamamoto AU - Nobuaki Kurauchi AU - Norihiko Shimoyama AU - Hidenori Toyoda AU - Takashi Kumada AU - Yuji Kaneoka AU - Atsuyuki Maeda AU - Koji Ogawa AU - Mitsuteru Natsuizaka AU - Hirofumi Kamachi AU - Tatsuhiko Kakisaka AU - Toshiya Kamiyama AU - Akinobu Taketomi AU - Yoshihiro Matsuno AU - Naoya Sakamoto Y1 - 2016/07/01 UR - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/69/7/593.abstract N2 - Background/Aim Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is one of the most aggressive malignant tumours, so the identification of molecular targets for ICC is an important issue. Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) is a key inducer of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). The aim of the present study was to clarify the clinical significance of ZEB1 in ICC and the associations between ZEB1 expression and EMT-related proteins.Methods We immunohistochemically examined the expression of EMT-related proteins, namely ZEB1, vimentin and E-cadherin, in ICC specimens from 102 patients. The clinicopathological and prognostic values of these markers were evaluated.Results ZEB1 and vimentin were expressed in 46.1% and 43.1% of tumours, respectively, and E-cadherin expression was lost in 44.1% of tumours. ZEB1 expression showed a significant inverse correlation with E-cadherin expression (p=0.004) and a positive correlation with vimentin expression (p=0.022). Altered expression of ZEB1 was associated with aggressive tumour characteristics, including advanced tumour stage (p=0.037), undifferentiated-type histology (p=0.017), lymph node metastasis (p=0.024) and portal vein invasion (p=0.037). Moreover, overall survival rates were significantly lower for patients with high ZEB1 expression than for patients with low ZEB1 expression (p=0.027). Kaplan–Meier analysis also identified E-cadherin expression (p=0.041) and vimentin expression (p=0.049) as prognostic indicators for overall survival.Conclusions ZEB1 expression is associated with tumour progression and poor prognosis in patients with ICC through positive correlations with vimentin and negative correlations with E-cadherin. ZEB1 expression is associated with a poor prognosis and might be an attractive target for the treatment of ICC. ER -