Altered Expression of Ezrin in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Ezrin is a membrane-cytoskeletal linker belonging to the ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) family and has been suggested to be involved in tumorigenesis. In this study we investigated ezrin expression pattern in normal esophageal mucosa and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the correlation with clinical characteristics. Immunohistochemical staining showed a tendency for ezrin to translocate from membrane to cytoplasm in the progression from normal epithelium to invasive carcinoma of the esophagus. By Western blot, we found that ezrin expression was downregulated in 13 ESCC specimens and upregulated in 36 others. Moreover, quantitative real-time RT-PCR demonstrated that ezrin mRNA level in normal esophageal mucosa was 3.60 ± 3.60 times that in ESCC ( p<0.001). Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression level was higher in ezrin downregulated group compared with that in ezrin upregulated group ( p<0.05). However, there was no significant association between ezrin expression and clinical characteristics. The results suggested that the localization of ezrin by immunohistochemistry may be useful in the diagnosis of ESCC, and ezrin may play a suppressive role in the tumorgenesis of ESCC.

Sp1 and AP-1 Regulate Expression of the Human Gene VIL2 in Esophageal Carcinoma Cells

“…Survival-Our recent study on ESCC samples showed that ezrin tends to translocate from the plasma membrane to the cytoplasm in the progression from normal epithelium to invasive carcinoma of the esophagus (16). Here, we confirmed this finding and further evaluated clinical significance.…”

“…We also have demonstrated that ezrin is overexpressed in a malignantly transformed esophageal epithelial cell line compared with an immortalized cell line (15). Our more recent study on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) 3 samples showed that ezrin tends to translocate from the plasma membrane to the cytoplasm in the progression from normal epithelium to invasive carcinoma of the esophagus (16). Moreover, both in vivo and in vitro experiments suggest that ezrin may affect tumor formation and tumor invasiveness directly (17).…”

Overexpression of Tiam1 predicts poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

“…Western blotting was performed according to standard methods as described previously (18,19). Briefly, ESCC tissues and normal esophageal tissues were lysed in a sample buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0; 150 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100; 100 μg/ml PMSF) on ice for 30 min.…”

Bioinformatics Analyses of m-RNA Profiling Following Ezrin Knockdown in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Previous research indicates Ezrin plays critical roles in the invasion and metastasis of ESCC [8][9][10]. In this study, we present a comprehensive analysis of mRNA profile following Ezrin knockdown in ESCC EC109 cell line by using various bioinformatic methods to reveal the potential mechanisms of Ezrin action.…”

“…Our previous researches show Ezrin is over-expressed in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which is associated with the invasive phenotype of malignantly transformed esophageal epithelial cells [8]. We subsequently found Ezrin translocates from the plasma membrane to the cytoplasm in the progression from normal epithelium to invasive carcinoma of esophageal epithelial cells [9].…”