%0 Journal Article
%T Identification of galectin-7 as a potential biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by proteomic analysis
%A Xi Zhu
%A Ming Ding
%A Mei-Lan Yu
%A Ming-Xiang Feng
%A Li-Jie Tan
%A Fu-Kun Zhao
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-10-290
%X To identify novel biomarkers for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), specimens from 10 patients with ESCC were subjected to a comparative proteomic analysis. The proteomic patterns of ESCC samples and normal esophageal epithelial tissues (NEETs) were compared using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. And differentially expressed proteins were identified using MALDI-TOF-MS/MS. For further identification of protein in selected spot, western blotting and immunohistochemistry were employed.Twelve proteins were up-regulated and fifteen proteins were down-regulated in the ESCC samples compared with the NEET samples. Up-regulation of galectin-7 was further confirmed by western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining of galectin-7 was performed on a tissue microarray containing ESCC samples (n = 50) and NEET samples (n = 10). The expression levels of galectin-7 were markedly higher in the ESCC samples than in the NEET samples (P = 0.012). In addition, tissue microarray analysis also showed that the expression level of galectin-7 was related to the differentiation of ESCC.The present proteomics analysis revealed that galectin-7 was highly expressed in ESCC tissues. The alteration in the expression of galectin-7 was confirmed using a tissue microarray. These findings suggest that galectin-7 could be used as a potential biomarker for ESCC.Esophageal carcinoma is one of the most malignant gastrointestinal cancers and is ranked the 6th leading cause of cancer death worldwide [1]. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the predominant histological subtype of esophageal carcinoma in Asia [2]. The overall 5-year survival rate of ESCC is less than 10% [3]. One of the primary reasons for this high mortality rate is that ESCC is often not detected until it has invaded surrounding organs and is therefore at an advanced stage. Surgery is inappropriate in 40-60% of patients due to unresectable disease status, the presence of distant meta
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/290