The Expression And Clinical Prognostic Significance Of ULK1 And ANGPTL3 In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical prognostic significance of ULK1 and ANGPTL3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and evaluate the correlation of ULK1 and ANGPTL3.Methods:The expression of ULK1 and ANGPTL3 in 86 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues and 78 cases of adjacent normal tissues were detected by tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry (EnVision two footwork), the relationship between ULK1 and ANGPTL3 protein expression and clinical pathological parameters and survival time were examined by statistical analysis.Results:1. In esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues and adjacent normal tissues, positive expression rate of ULK1 protein was 61.6% and 23.1% respectively, the difference is statistically significant(chi-square= 24.761, p= 0.000); positive expression rate of ANGPTL3 protein was 59.3% and 14.1% respectively, the difference is statistically significant(chi-square= 35.540, p= 0.000). The expression levels of ULK1 protein in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was associated with the TNM staging (chi-square= 6.320, p= 0.012). The expression levels of ANGPTL3 protein wasn’t obvious associated with the gender, age, tumor size, histological grade, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis (LNM) (P> 0.05).2. Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that expression of ULK1 and ANGPTL3 was positively correlated (r= 0.222, p= 0.040).3. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox univariate regression analysis showed that the TNM staging Ⅲ+Ⅳ (hazard ratio (HR)= 1.779,95% confidence interval (CI):1.035-3.058, P= 0.037), lymph node metastasis (hazard ratio (HR)= 1.765, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.026-3.038, P= 0.040), negative expression of ULK1 (hazard ratio (HR)= 0.508,95% confidence interval (CI):0.296-0.873, P = 0.014), positive expression of ANGPTL3 (hazard ratio (HR)= 1.880,95% confidence interval (CI):1.043-3.388, P= 0.036) were significantly associated with poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients. COX multivariate regression analysis showed that the expression levels of ULK1 protein (hazard ratio (HR)= 0.471,95% confidence interval (CI):0.265-0.836, P = 0.010), the expression levels of ANGPTL3 protein (hazard ratio (HR)= 2.156, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.177-3.950, P= 0.013) were independent prognostic factors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.Conclusion:1. The positive expression rate of ULK1 and ANGPTL3 protein in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue was significantly higher than the adjacent normal tissue, and the expression of them was positively correlated,which suggest that ULK1 and ANGPTL3 may be participated in the occurrence and development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and they may play a positive regulation in the occurrence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.2. The expression of ULK1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was associated with the TNM staging(chi-square= 6.320, p= 0.012), which suggest ULK1 may be related with malignant biology behavior of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.3. ULK1 and ANGPTL3 were associated with poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients,they might be potential biomarker for prognostic evaluation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.