| Aim:The goal of this study was to investigate the expression of HER2 and FAS in esophageal carcinomas, and its relationship with clinical-pathological characteristics and patient survival. The aim was to evaluate whether any of these protein are suitable as therapeutic target or prognostic indicator.Methods:Expression of HER2 and FAS was investigated immunohistochemically in surgical samples of primary esophageal cancers (n=149). HER2 expression was scored using HercepTest criteria (0,1+,2+ or 3+). FAS was also graded as 0,1+,2+ or 3+, according to the staining intensity and the percentage of positive stained tumor cells.Results:Positive (1+,2+ or 3+) FAS immunostaining was evident in 126 of 149 (84.6%) analysed esophageal carcinomas, and FAS overexpression (2+ or 3+) was found in 109 of 149 (73.2%) of the cases. The expression of FAS was significantly associated with the tumor differentiation (P=0.003), and was not correlated with other tumor characteristics, such as patient gender, age, smoking, alcohol consumption, tumor location, tumor length, tumor histological type, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM staging, lymphatic or vascular invasion and margin status. The patients with low FAS expression had better 5-year accumulative survival and median survival time than those with high FAS expression (28.6% vs 11.0%; 27.5 m vs 14.0 m). Positive (1+,2+ or 3+) HER2 immunostaining was found in 113 of 149 (75.4%) analysed esophageal carcinomas, and HER2 overexpression (2+ or 3+) in 56 of 149 (37.6%) of the cases. The HER2 expression was not associated with tumor characteristics.Conclusion:FAS expression is common in esophageal carcinomas. Patients with high FAS expression had poorer prognosis. FAS protein detection might guide the prognosis judgment of esophageal carcinomas, and it is possible that FAS to be a potential target for the therapy of esophageal carcinomas. The value of HER2 to be a prognostic indicator for esophageal carcinoma is uncertain. |
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