Objective: To investigate the expression of MC1R in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its correlation with the clinicopathological parameters.
Methods: We analyzed the expression of MC1R in esophageal cancer based on data from TCGA databse and examined its expression levels using RT-PCR and Western blotting in a human esophageal epithelial cell line BAr-T, human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines ECA109, KYSE30, KYSE150, KYSE510, TE-1, TE-13, and EC9706, a human gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 and 19 pairs of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues.Immunohistochemistry was used to detect MC1R expression levels in 32 pairs of paraffin-embedded sections of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and adjacent tissues, and the correlation of MC1R expression and the patients'clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed.
Results: Bioinformatics analysis showed that MC1R was significantly overexpressed in esophageal cancer tissues (P < 0.05).MC1R expression was also increased in 5 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines ECA109, KYSE30, KYSE510, TE-13, EC9706 and the gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 as compared with that in esophageal epithelial cells (P < 0.05).Immunohistochemistry revealed significantly increased MC1R expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue sections in comparison with the adjacent tissue sections (P < 0.05).In patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, a high MC1R expression was detected mainly in those with an old age, positive for middle-thoracic involvement, and with moderately differentiated tumor cells, and showed a correlation with T stage of tumor (P < 0.05), but not with the other clinicopathological parameters such as gender, age, degree of cell differentiation, primary tumor site, or TNM stage (P>0.05).
Conclusion: MC1R is highly expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and may serve as a molecular biomarker to assist in the diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
目的: 通过分析MC1R在食管鳞癌细胞和组织中的表达水平及其与相关临床病理参数的相关性, 探讨MC1R在食管鳞癌中的临床意义。
方法: 通过生物信息学分析MC1R在食管癌中的表达情况; 以RT-PCR和Western blotting方法比较分析人食管上皮细胞BAr-T、人食管鳞癌细胞ECA109、KYSE30、KYSE150、KYSE510、TE-1、TE-13、EC9706、人胃癌细胞SGC7901及19对食管鳞癌组织和对应癌旁组织中MC1R的表达水平; 以IHC方法比较分析32对食管鳞癌组织切片和对应癌旁组织切片中MC1R的表达水平; 使用t检验进行组间MC1R表达量的差异比较, 使用Fisher's精确检验分析MC1R表达水平与临床病理特征之间的关系。
结果: 生物信息学分析显示MC1R在食管癌组织中显著高表达(P < 0.05);食管鳞癌细胞ECA109、KYSE30、KYSE510、TE-13、EC9706和胃癌细胞系SGC7901中MC1R表达量高于食管上皮细胞(P < 0.05);食管鳞癌组织切片中MC1R相对表达量显著高于癌旁组织(P < 0.05)。MC1R高表达现象主要存在于老年、胸中段和中分化食管鳞癌患者中, 其与肿瘤T分期有关(P < 0.05), 与年龄、细胞分化程度、肿瘤原发部位、TNM分期等临床病理参数无关(P>0.05)。
结论: MC1R在食管鳞癌细胞系和组织中表达量显著升高, 可能作为食管鳞癌诊断的辅助分子标志物。
Keywords: MC1R; clinicopathological parameters; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; molecular biomarker.