Purpose: To screen key molecules to aid the prediction of prognosis in esophageal cancer, we previously carried out and reported gene-expression profiling: we found that RNA expressions of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes were regulated in patients with a poor outcome. Therefore, we focused on ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme H10 (UbcH10) which is indispensable in the cell-cycle transition from metaphase to anaphase, and investigated whether this protein expression levels of UbcH10 in cancerous esophageal lesions affected the prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous - cell carcinoma by evaluating more patients for a longer piriod. Experimental Design:Paraffin - embedded tissue samples from 121 patients with esophageal squamous - cell carcinoma were stained with anti-UbcH10 antibody for immunohistochemical analysis.
Results: UbcH10 was expressed in cancerous and dysplastic lesions, but not in normal tissue. Depending on the staining pattern, patients were grouped according to expression: high (N=33) or low (N=88).There were significant differences between the groups in terms of invasion into lymphatic vessels, number of metastatic lymph nodes,TNM classification, and stages as well as survival: the 50% survival rate in the high expression group was 2.3 years, as compared with 9.9 years for the low expression group (P < 0.0001). Even with multi-variate adjusting for stage 0 to stage IV using the Cox proportional hazard model, patients belonging to the high-expression group had a poorer prognosis (HR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.3 - 4.5; P = 0.004).
Conclusions: High UbcH10 protein expression Sseems to be a novel marker of poor prognosis in esophageal squamous - cell carcinoma.