Clinical significance of SOX2 and snail expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Objective: To study the SOX2 and Snail expression in esophageal cancer and their relationships with tumor biological behavior. Methods: Immunohistochemical method was used to study the SOX2 and Snail1 expression in 60 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients with lymph node metastasis. Statistical analysis was done based on the immunohistochemistry data and the disease profile. Results: SOX2 expression level is positively correlated with Snail expression level in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients with lymph node metastasis (r = 0.583, P < 0.05). However, SOX2 or Snail expression levels are not correlated with the patients’ age, tumor differentiation grade, TNM stage, or clinical pathology data (P > 0.05), in the same patient cohort. SOX2 expression level alone is not correlated with the patients’ age, tumor differentiation grade or TNM stage (P > 0.05); However, SOX2 and Snail are both positively expressed in one case of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates SOX2 and Snail levels are upregulated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue with lymph node metastasis, and their expression levels are positively correlated. Our data suggests SOX2 and Snail are playing a role in carcinogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas.