Significance of expression of FEZ1 gene in esophagealsquamous cell carcinoma

Objective To investigate expression of tumor suppressor gene FEZ1 and relationship between FEZ1 expression and clinicopathological features of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods The expression of FEZ1 mRNA in 50 cases of esophageal carcinoma and 50 cases of normal esophageal mucoma were detected by in situ hybridization(ISH).The expression of protein in esophageal carcinoma cell lines,EC-1 with low differentiation and EC9706 with high differentiation,was detected by Western blot.Results The positive expression rate of FEZ1 mRNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(42.0%) were significantly lower than in normal esophageal mucoma(86.0%)(P=0.000).The positivity of FEZ1 mRNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was related with differentiation(P=0.007) and lymph node metastasis(P=0.013).The expression of protein in low differentiated cell was lower than that in high differentiated cell,but there was no significant difference between them(P=0.062).Conclusion Missing expression of FEZ1 gene may be relation with differentiation and metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.