Synuclein-gamma predicts poor clinical outcome in esophageal cancer patients

Abstract

The synuclein gamma (SNCG) protein, a member of neuronal protein family synuclein, has been considered as a promising potential biomarker as an indicator of cancer stage and survival in patients with cancer. The present study was conducted to evaluate the prognostic value of SNCG in patients with esophageal carcinoma (EC). SNCG levels were assessed immunohistochemically in cancer tissues from 73 EC patients. Median age was 57 (range, 29-78) years old. Forty-seven percent of the patients were male. Thirty-seven percent of the patients had upper or middle localized tumor whereas 59 % had epidermoid carcinoma. More than half of the patients (61 %) had undergone operation where 57 % received adjuvant treatment including chemotherapy or chemotherapy plus radiotherapy. Median overall survival was 11.3 ± 1.8 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 7.7-14.9 months). SNCG positivity was significantly associated with the histological type of EC and inoperability (for SNCG positive vs. negative group; epidermoid 80 vs. 53 %; p = 0.05 and inoperable 59 vs.32 %; p = 0.04, respectively). Lymph node metastasis, inoperability and receiving no adjuvant treatment had significantly adverse effect on survival in the univariate analysis (p = 0.01, p < 0.001, and p = 0.001, respectively). SNCG positivity had significantly adverse effect on survival in both univariate and multivariate analysis (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01, respectively). Our results are the first to suggest that SNCG is a new independent predictor for poor prognosis in EC patients in the literature.

Silencing of Synuclein-γ inhibits human cervical cancer through the AKT signaling pathway

“…Synuclein-γ ( SNCG ) is the third member of the synuclein family [6], which is strongly associated with malignant progression and distant metastasis in different types of cancer. SNCG protein is abnormally expressed in a high percentage in various malignant tumor tissues including liver, breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancer, while it is rarely expressed in tumor-matched non-neoplastic adjacent tissues [7, 8]. Cumulative findings suggest that SNCG might be a potential biomarker in cancer progression.…”

A transcriptome-based protein network that identifies new therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer

“…The SNCG protein was not interacting with any of the other proteins from the pathway, yet its down-regulation occurred in more than 75% of the CRC samples. Increased expression of the SNGG gene was suggested to be a predictor of poor prognosis in esophageal or endometrial cancer patients [ 37 , 38 ], which is distinct from the negative regulation observed here. SFRP1 , from the Wnt pathway, was strongly down-regulated in all CRC samples of this study, like most of the genes from the pathway, as opposed to the WNT2 and the CCND1 genes, which were increased in more than 75% of the CRC samples, agreeing with previous results [ 39 , 40 ].…”

Alpha-synuclein contributes to malignant progression of human meningioma via the Akt/mTOR pathway

“…It was reported that γ-synuclein expression is dysregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma [14], esophageal cancer [15], and breast cancer [16]. The α-synuclein protein shows distinct tissue distributions and is predominantly expressed in brain tumors and melanomas [8, 9, 17].…”