Expression of CXCL12/CXCR4 and its correlation to prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE CXCL12/CXCR4 is expressed in many kinds of tumors, which is associated with tumor proliferation and invasion. This study was to investigate the expression of CXCL12/CXCR4, and explore its correlation to prognosis and clinicopathologic factors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS The expression of CXCL12/CXCR4 protein in 186 specimens of ESCC was assessed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The positive rates of CXCL4 and CXCR12 protein in ESCC tissues were 67.2% and 63.4%, respectively. CXCL4 and CXCR12 were not expressed in 20 specimens of normal esophageal epithelium. PTNM stage and positive expression of CXCR4 were independent prognostic factors of ESCC (p < 0.05). The five-year survival rates of CXCL12-positive and CXCL12-negative groups were not significantly different (21.0% vs. 18.8%, p > 0.05), while the five-year survival rate was significantly higher in CXCR4-negative group than in CXCR4-positive group (28.5% vs. 2.2%, p < 0.05). The expression of CXCR4 was higher in the group with lymph node metastasis and pathological T3 stage than in the group without lymph node metastasis and with pathological T1-T2 stages (p < 0.05). The expression of CXCR4 was not correlated with the expression of CXCL12 in ESCC. CONCLUSIONS CXCL12/CXCR4 is intensively expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The level of CXCR4 is positively correlated to progression and prognosis of ESCC.