Expression and clinical significance of Ezrin and E-cadherin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: It has been proven that Ezrin protein may interact with E-cadherin protein and take part in metastasis of tumor cells. This study was to investigate the expressions of Ezrin and E-cadherin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and their relationship with the clinicopathologic factors, and analyze their diagnostic values for ESCC.

Methods: The expression of Ezrin and E-cadherin in 72 specimen of ESCC and the paracancer normal squamous epithelium was detected using tissue array with SP immunohistochemistry. Their correlations to the clinicopathologic factors were analyzed statistically.

Results: The positive rate of Ezrin was significantly higher in ESCC than in para-cancer normal squamous epithelium (90.7% vs. 46.0%, P < 0.001); the positive rate of E-cadherin was significantly lower in ESCC than in para-cancer normal squamous epithelium (27.6% vs. 97.4%, P < 0.001). Ezrin expression was related to the invasiveness and lymph node metastasis of ESCC (P < 0.05); E-cadherin expression was related to the differentiation and lymph node metastasis of ESCC (P < 0.05). The high expression of Ezrin was related to the low expression of E-cadherin (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The activation of Ezrin and the absence of E-cadherin contribute to the tumorigenesis and metastasis of ESCC.