Significance of BIT1 gene expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with lymph node metastasis

Objective: To investigate the expression of BIT1(Bcl-2 inhibitor of transcription1) gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)with lymph node metastasis and to explore its correlation with the invasion and metastasis of ESCC. Methods: Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the relative expression levels of BIT1 gene in 30 ESCC specimens,30 tumor-adjacent atypical hyperplastic epithelial specimens,and 30 normal esophageal epithelial specimens. Results: The expression level of BIT1 gene in carcinoma was significantly higher than that in tumor-adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithelium and normal esophageal epithelium respectively(P0.05).But there was no significant difference between tumor-adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithe-lium and normal esophageal epithelium(P0.05).The expression level of BIT1 gene was not significantly related to age,gender and depth of invasion(P0.05),while it was significantly related to lymph node metastasis and TNM stage.BIT1 gene expression in carcinoma with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher than that without lymph node metastasis(P0.001).BIT1 gene expression in the TNM stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ was significantly higher than that in stageⅠ and Ⅱ(P0.05). Conclusion: The overexpression of BIT1 gene in ESCC was closed associated with the invasion and metastasis of ESCC.