Transcriptional expression of p73 gene in esophageal cancer tissues and its significance

Purpose:To detect the expression of p73 and to explore its role in tumorigenesis or development of esophageal cancer.Methods:The expression of p73 mRNA was detected in 37 cases of esophageal tumor tissues,para cancer tissues, regional lymph node and matched esophageal normal tissues by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR), and to explore the relationship between the expression of p73 gene and clinical pathologic characteristic in esophageal cancer .Results:Overexpression of p73 mRNA was found in 21/37 (51.8%) esophageal tumor tissues. The expression rate of p73 mRNA in the cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the para cancer tissues, regional lymph node and matched esophageal normal tissues ( P 0.05). No significant relationship was observed among p73 mRNA expression and differentiated grades, pathological classification and P TNM stages of the cancer ( P 0.05).Conclusions:There was overexpression of p73 mRNA in esophageal tumor tissues, and which may perhaps participate in regulation of tumorigenesis in esophageal cancer. The presence of p73 gene could not prevent development of esophageal cancer, thus it may not play main role of action in restraining esophageal carcinoma.