Prognostic relevance of Centromere protein H expression in esophageal carcinoma

We examined the expression of CENP-H in immortalized esophageal epithelial cells as well as in esophageal carcinoma cells, and in 12 cases of esophageal carcinoma tissues and the paired normal esophageal tissues by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. In addition, we analyzed CENP-H protein expression in 177 clinicopathologically characterized esophageal carcinoma cases by immunohistochemistry. Statistical analyses were applied to test for prognostic and diagnostic associations.The level of CENP-H mRNA and protein were higher in the immortalized cells, cancer cell lines and most cancer tissues than in normal control tissues. Immunohistochemistry showed that CENP-H was expressed in 127 of 171 ESCC cases (74.3%) and in 3 of 6 esophageal adenocarcinoma cases (50%). Statistical analysis of ESCC cases showed that there was a significant difference of CENP-H expression in patients categorized according to gender (P = 0.013), stage (P = 0.023) and T classification (P = 0.019). Patients with lower CENP-H expression had longer overall survival time than those with higher CENP-H expression. Multivariate analysis suggested that CENP-H expression was an independent prognostic marker for esophageal carcinoma patients. A prognostic value of CENP-H was also found in the subgroup of T3~T4 and N0 tumor classification.Our results suggest that CENP-H protein is a valuable marker of esophageal carcinoma progression. CENP-H might be used as a valuable prognostic marker for esophageal carcinoma patients.During the proliferation of normal cells, the centrosome ensures the equal segregation of chromosomes to the postmitotic daughter cells by organizing the bipolar mitotic spindle. In contrast, in cancer cells multipolar mitotic spindles and various centrosomal anomalies, such as supernumerary centrosomes, centrosomes of abnormal size and shape, and prematurely split centrosomes are frequently observed [1-3] It is conceivable that such abnormalities disrupt normal chromosomal segregation, prod