Expression of paxillin and FAK mRNA and the related clinical significance in esophageal carcinoma

Abstract

Abstract. The objective of the present study was to investigate the expression of paxillin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) mRNA in esophageal carcinoma tissues, and their relationship with clinicopathological parameters, as well as to analyze the correlation of paxillin and FAK mRNA levels in esophageal carcinoma. By using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the mRNA expression levels of paxillin and FAK were detected in 121 samples of esophageal carcinoma, 43 samples of atypical hyperplasia and 56 samples of normal esophageal mucosa. The results showed that the positive rates of paxillin and FAK mRNA expression in esophageal carcinoma were 87.6 and 80.17%, respectively, which were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those in atypical hyperplasia (44.19 and 39.53%) and normal esophageal mucosa (5.36 and 12.5%). Notably, paxillin and FAK mRNA expression levels were significantly correlated with the differentiation degree and depth of invasion of esophageal carcinoma and with lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). In addition, paxillin and FAK mRNA expression levels in esophageal carcinoma were positively correlated (r=0.4804, P=0.000).In conclusion, the combined detection of paxillin and FAK mRNA expression is expected to provide a theoretical basis for the molecular diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma. IntroductionPaxillin is a tyrosine kinase substrate and a significant cell adhesion molecule. Paxillin is associated with integrin and its related cellular and extracellular matrix molecules. As such, paxillin helps to regulate cell migration, dissemination and other functions, and enhances tumor cell invasion and metastasis (1,2). Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is distributed in the cellular focal adhesion sites and plays a crucial role in the regulation of tumor cell migration (3,4). Thus, paxillin and FAK are both related to the occurrence of tumors and their biological behavior. In this study, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect paxillin and FAK mRNA expression in esophageal carcinoma, atypical dysplasia and normal esophageal mucosa. This study also investigated the relationship of paxillin, FAK and clinicopathological parameters, as well as the correlation between paxillin and FAK expression, in order to provide a theoretical basis for a molecular diagnostic for esophageal carcinoma. Materials and methodsGeneral information. Fresh specimens were collected from esophagectomies of 121 patients while visiting the Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital, Xuzhou Medical College (Jiangsu Province, China) from March 1, 2010 to March 1, 2011. Subjects included 68 males and 53 females, aged 35 to 80 years; all had no preoperative chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy history. Shortly following specimen harvest, two samples were taken from each of three sites -necrosis-free carcinoma (within 3 cm of the expected carcinoma) and distant, normal mucosa. For each tissue, one of the two samples was stored in liquid nitrogen for later RT-PCR preparation. The second s...

Fascin-1, Ezrin and Paxillin Contribute to the Malignant Progression and Are Predictors of Clinical Prognosis in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Our results demonstrate significantly greater expression of fascin-1, ezrin and paxillin in LSCC than ANM tissues, which agrees with observations in ESCC [15], [34], gastric cancer [42], and NSCLC [31], [37]. Fascin-1, ezrin or paxillin might promote the malignant progression of LSCC; therefore, we investigated whether fascin-1, ezrin or paxillin levels could be potential molecular markers to determine LSCC prognosis.…”

“…It has been linked to many malignancies [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39] except LSCC. Paxillin was highly expressed in 69.0% of our cases, which was similar to the proportion found for HCC [36] and urothelial bladder tumor [55].…”

“…It provides a platform for the integration and processing of adhesion and growth factor-related signals that are mainly involved in tumor metastasis and cell proliferation [32], [33]. Paxillin is overexpressed in many carcinomas, including bladder cancer [33], ESCC [34], [35], hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [36], NSCLC [37], salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma [38], and floor of mouth carcinoma [39].…”

Paxillin expression is closely linked to the pathogenesis, progression and prognosis of gastric carcinomas

“…Cai et al (21) found that paxillin mRNA expression levels were significantly correlated with the differentiation degree, depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis of esophageal carcinoma. A previous study indicated that paxillin expression was correlated with distant metastasis and clinical stage of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (22).…”

Identification of lymphatic metastasis-associated genes in a metastatic ovarian cancer cell line

“…FAK overexpression has been associated with breast cancer lung metastasis (37,38), and FAK inhibitors have been introduced in novel therapeutic strategies (20,(39)(40)(41). An association between FAK overexpression and lymphatic metastasis has been identified in non-small-cell lung, oral squamous cell, esophageal, gastric, tongue, laryngeal and endometrial cancer by retrospective analysis of clinical samples (42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49). Upregulation of FAK in the SKOV-3/LN403 cell line and clinical pathological specimens suggests that it may contribute to the high lymphatic metastaticity of the SKOV-3/LN403 cell line.…”