Expression of AKT and PTEN Protein and Their Relationship with Clinic Characteristics of Esophageal Carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the expression of AKT and PTEN protein and their relationship with clinic char- acteristics of esophageal carcinoma. Methods: Expression of AKT and PTEN protein was examined by Western Blot and immunohistochemical method in the esophageal carcinoma and normal esophageal (control) tissue of 42 patients. Results: In tumor specimen, expression of AKT protein was increased as compared with control tissue(P0. 01), while PTEN protein was reduced compared with control tissue (P0. 01). A negative correlation was observed between AKT and PTEN(r=-0. 583, P0. 01). Protein level of AKT was higher in Ⅲ_b-Ⅳ stage patients with low differentiatition and lymph node metastasis than those with Ⅱ-Ⅲ_a stage, high defferentiatition and no lymph node metastasis(P0. 01). How- ever, PTEN protein level was entirely contrary. Both of them were not related with age, sex and size of tumor(P0. 05). Conclusions: The hyperexpression of AKT may play an important role in the initiation and development of human esopha- geal carcinoma, while PTEN inhibit this process.