Expression and significance of angiopoietin-2 in squamous carcinoma of esophagus

Objective To investigate the expression of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) in human squamous carcinoma of esophagus and determine it's relationship with pathological grades, infiltration and metastasis factors. Methods S-P immunochemical method was performed to detect the expression of Ang-2 in esophagus tissues from 54 cases with squamous carcinoma of esophagus and 22 normal persons. The pathological grades, infiltration and metastasis factors were statistically analyzed. Results Of 54 cases with squamous carcinoma of esophagus, 37 cases had positive expression of Ang-2, with positive rate of 67.06, which was significantly higher than that in normal esophagus (P0.05). The expression rate of Ang-2 increased significantly with the increase of pathological grading and lymphatic metastasis (P0.05). Conclusions The expression of Ang-2 may be positively related to clinical stages and pathological grades in squamous carcinoma of esophagus, indicating that Ang-2 may be involved in the neovascularization of carcinoma and in the occurrence and progression of squamous carcinoma of esophagus and hence can be a useful biological predictor of progression in esophageal carcinoma.