AIMS AND BACKGROUND The role of serum pepsinogen level and Helicobacter pylori infection in esophageal carcinoma remains controversial. It may be a risk or protective factor, or without association with esophageal carcinoma. We prospectively examined associations between serum pepsinogen status, H pylori infection and the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in the Chinese population. M...

Cytokeratins are thought to play a role in apoptosis. Cytokeratin 18 (CK18) is involved in the formation of intracellular cytoskeleton, and has been considered a promising apoptosis marker in gastrointestinal carcinomas. Growth factors, including hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), may provide a microenvironment for malignant cells. In this study, we aimed to compare serum HGF and CK18 levels betwe...

Heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) and glycoprotein 96 (gp96) are highly expressed in cancer tissues. Recent studies indicate the possible roles of HSP72 and gp96 in the development and progression of gastrointestinal carcinomas but detailed information is still ambiguous. We investigated the correlation between clinicopathology and expression of HSP72 and gp96 in human esophageal squamous cell carc...

BACKGROUND Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has attracted much research attention around the world, and the number of ESCC cases has increased gradually in recent years. Identifying the specific biomarkers of ESCC is an effective approach for the early diagnosis of tumors. MATERIAL AND METHODS Immunohistochemical streptavidin-peroxidase method was used to determine the expressions of...

Telomerase activation is one of the main pathways to immortalize cancer cells. In many kinds of cancer cells, this special reverse transcriptase stabilizes and elongates telomeres and prevents telomere erosion that naturally occurs in every cell division. Esophageal cancer is the fifth most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide, and is highly associated with alcohol, smoking, cultural ha...

BACKGROUND Carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9) is a transmembrane glycoprotein related to hypoxia. Increased CA9 expression has been associated with decreased survival and cancer progression and has been targeted as a potential therapy for several cancers, including esophageal cancer. The reported percentages of expression of CA9 in esophageal adenocarcinoma vary, and CA9 expression in precancerous eso...

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a member of the EGFR family of receptors. EGFR and other members of the EGFR family have been shown to play significant roles in human cancer cell proliferation and therefore present important molecular targets for the treatment of cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the pan-erbB tyrosine kinase inhibitor CI-1033 against ...

Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), a key receptor for the leukocyte-associated integrin (VLA4), is a crucial mediator of leukocyte adhesion and has co-stimulatory functions in inflammation at various organ sites. Specifically, VCAM-1/VLA4 interactions have been shown to play important roles in the setting of cutaneous immune responses, such as psoriatic lesions in humans and acute Graf...

PURPOSE The RAS association domain family 1A (RASSF1A) gene, a candidate tumor suppressor gene, is frequently inactivated by hypermethylation of its promoter region in several human cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the promoter methylation status of the RASSF1A in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We analyzed the methylation status of RASSF1A promoter by me...