Correlation of CD133, E-cadherin, and β-catenin with metastasis and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background: CD133, a biomarker of cancer stem cells, is often detected in highly aggressive cancers, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). E-cadherin, a suppressor of tumor metastasis, and beta-catenin, a key factor in the Wnt signaling pathway, play important roles in ESCC. However, the evaluation of the correlation of them in the prediction of prognosis and metastasis in ESCC was unknown. In this study, we analyzed the associations among CD133, E-cadherin, and beta-catenin in ESCC and their correlations with clinicopathological factors and survival in ESCC. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (INC) was used to assess the expression of CD133, E-cadherin, and beta-catenin in 110 specimens of ESCC and 50 normal esophageal tissues. Each patient's clinical data, such as gender and age, were also collected. Results: Levels of CD133 and p-catenin were significantly higher, and levels of E-cadherin were significantly lower, in ESCC tissues than in normal esophageal tissues. Moreover, the expression of CD133 was positively correlated with beta-catenin but negatively correlated with E-cadherin. Univariate analysis indicated that the postoperative 5-year overall survival (OS) time of patients was related to the expression of CD133, E-cadherin and beta-catenin, lymph node metastasis (LNM), depth of invasion, and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. Multivariate regression revealed that LNM was an independent prognostic factor for ESCC patients. Conclusions: Our study suggested that CD133 might regulate the expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin in ESCC. Combined detection of these factors may be of certain value for predicting metastasis and prognosis in ESCC patients.