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Lack of activated Smad2 in transforming growth factor‐β signaling is an unfavorable prognostic factor in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Fukuchi Minoru,
Nakajima Masanobu,
Miyazaki Tatsuya,
Masuda Norihiro,
Osawa Hidenobu,
Manda Ryokuhei,
Tsukada Katsuhiko,
Kato Hiroyuki,
Kuwano Hiroyuki
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.20565
Subject(s) - immunostaining , medicine , transforming growth factor , immunohistochemistry , polyclonal antibodies , pathology , metastasis , carcinoma , tumor progression , cancer research , esophageal cancer , antibody , cancer , immunology
Background and Objectives: Transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) regulates cell growth in various cells, and inactivation of the TGF‐β‐signaling pathway contributes to tumor progression. In this study, we investigated the expression of Smad2 and Smad3, which are specific intracellular mediators of TGF‐β signaling. We also examined the relationship between the expression levels of activated Smad2 by TGF‐β and clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Methods: Immunohistochemical staining with anti‐phosphorylated Smad2 (P‐Smad2) polyclonal antibody, anti‐Smad2 monoclonal antibody, and anti‐Smad3 polyclonal antibody was performed on surgical specimens obtained from 80 patients with esophageal SCC. Results: Our data indicated that a low level of P‐Smad2, as detected immunohistologically, correlated with lymph node metastasis ( P = 0.0002), distant metastasis ( P = 0.0338), pathologic stage ( P = 0.0093), and poor survival rate ( P = 0.0246). All patients without positive Smad2 immunostaining were included among those without positive P‐Smad2 immunostaining. There was no significant correlation between expression of Smad2 or Smad3 and clinicopathologic characteristics. Conclusions: We demonstrated that a lack of Smad2‐P appears to be correlated with tumor development and poor prognosis in patients with esophageal SCC. J. Surg. Oncol. 2006;94:51–56. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.