Immunohistochemical Analysis of Transcription Factors TWIST1 Protein Expression in Esophageal SquamousCell Carcinoma Patient

Twist1 is a bHLH transcription factor having important role in epithelial-mesenchymaltransition (EMT), tumor progression and metastasis. Twist is activated by a variety of signaltransduction pathways, including Akt, STAT3, mitogen-activated protein kinase, Ras, andWnt signaling.Twist functions differently depending on the type of cancer. Our aim in thisstudy was to analyze TWIST1 protein expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinomaand their normal margin tissues. These data were correlated with patient’sclinicopathological features.Expression of Twist1 was assessed using Immunohistochemicalstaining on tumor and normal paraffin embedded sections of 56 ESCC patients appealingspecific polyclonal Twist1 antibody. A justified scoring system was also applied. Overexpression of Twist1 was detected in 45% of ESCC samples. Upregulation of TWIST1 wassignificantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.032) and the surgical staging oftumor (P=0.021). Mean relative expression (MRE) of Twist1 was significantly higher inpatients with invasion of tumor to adventitia (T3, T4). In advanced stages of tumor (stage III,IV), a significantly higher MRE of Twist1 was observed.In this study we investigated theTWIST1 protein expression in ESCC tissues. The correlations of TWIST1 expression withdifferent indices of poor prognosis such as tumor stage lymph nodes metastasis mayintroduce this protein as a potential therapeutic target for ESCC to inhibit progression anddevelopment of the disease. TWIST1, a critical EMT marker plays an important role inmetastasis, Therefore its inhibition may reverse aggressive behavior of tumor cells anddecrease the probability of recurrence in ESCC patients.

کلیدواژه ها:

Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma ، Immunohistochemistry ، TWIST1 ، Tumor Marker ، Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)