CEP55 overexpression predicts poor prognosis in patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) involves alterations in multiple genes with corresponding proteins. Recent studies have demonstrated that centrosomal protein 55 (CEP55) shares certain features with oncogenes, and CEP55 overexpression is associated with the development and progression of malignant tumors. The present study aimed to analyze, for the first time, whether CEP55 expression is related to clinicopothalogic features in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), as well as patient survival. A total of 110 patients with mid-thoracic ESCC who suffered from Ivor-Lewis were enrolled. The CEP55 expression profile of these patients in tumour tissues and corresponding healthy esophageal mucosa (CHEM) was detected by immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses. Correlations between CEP55 expression and clinicopathological factors were analyzed using χ2 test. The log-rank test was employed to calculate survival rate. A Cox regression multivariate analysis was performed to determine independent prognostic factors. The results demonstrated that CEP55 expression in ESCC was significantly higher than that of CHEM (P<0.001). Overexpression of CEP55 was significantly associated with differentiation degree (P=0.022), T stage (P=0.019), lymph node metastasis (P=0.033), clinicopathological staging (P=0.002) and tumor recurrence (P=0.021) in locally advanced ESCC patients. In addition, CEP55 overexpression was significantly associated with reduced overall survival of patients after surgery (P=0.012). The 5-year survival rate of patients without CEP55 overexpression was significantly higher than that of patients with CEP55 overexpression (P=0.012). Therefore, these findings suggest that CEP55 overexpression correlates with poor prognosis in locally advanced ESCC patients.