Significance of eIF4E Expression in Carcinogenesis of Esophageal Epithelium

Objective To explore the putative roles of eIF4E expression at protein level in the carcinogenesis of esophageal epithelium. Methods The expression of eIF4E at protein level was studied in normal esophageal tissue,esophageal intraepithelial neoplasia（EIN）and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma（ESCC）with immunohistochemical staining method. Results Immunohistochemical staining results showed that the positive expression rate of eIF4E was 26.7%，44.7% and 63.3% in normal esophageal tissue,EIN and ESCC respectively.The expression of eIF4E in ESCC was significantly higher than that of normal esophageal epithelium and EINs（P<0.05).The positive expression of eIF4E in high grade EIN was significantly higher than that in normal esophageal tissue and low-grade EIN（P<0.05). While in ESCC,the expression of eIF4E increased as the pathological grade increased.There was no significant correlation between expression of eIF4E and clinicopathologic features in the ESCC cases(P>0.05). Conclusion In the carcinogenesis of esophageal epithelium,the expression of eIF4E was increased.The expression of eIF4E in ESCC was increased as the degrees of differentiation decreased.Thus,the results showed that eIF4E was possibly involved in the carcinogenesis of esophagus and progression in different ways.