Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, PR China.
BMC Cancer. 2009 Dec 8;9:426. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-9-426.
HIWI, the human homologue of Piwi family, is present in CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells and germ cells, but not in well-differentiated cell populations, indicating that HIWI may play an impotent role in determining or maintaining stemness of these cells. That HIWI expression has been detected in several type tumours may suggest its association with clinical outcome in cancer patients.
With the methods of real-time PCR, western blot, immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry, the expression of HIWI in three esophageal squamous cancer cell lines KYSE70, KYSE140 and KYSE450 has been characterized. Then, we investigated HIWI expression in a series of 153 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas using immunohistochemistry and explored its association with clinicopathological features.
The expression of HIWI was observed in tumour cell nuclei or/and cytoplasm in 137 (89.5%) cases, 16 (10.5%) cases were negative in both nuclei and cytoplasm. 86 (56.2%) were strongly positive in cytoplasm, while 49 (32.0%) were strongly positive in nuclei. The expression level of HIWI in cytoplasm of esophageal cancer cells was significantly associated with histological grade (P = 0.011), T stage (P = 0.035), and clinic outcome (P < 0.001), while there was no correlation between the nuclear HIWI expression and clinicopathological features.
The expression of HIWI in the cytoplasm of esophageal cancer cells is significantly associated with higher histological grade, clinical stage and poorer clinical outcome, indicating its possible involvement in cancer development.
HIWI 是 Piwi 家族的人类同源物，存在于 CD34+造血干细胞和生殖细胞中，但不存在于分化良好的细胞群体中，这表明 HIWI 可能在决定或维持这些细胞的干性方面发挥重要作用。HIWI 的表达已在几种类型的肿瘤中检测到，这可能表明它与癌症患者的临床结果有关。
通过实时 PCR、western blot、免疫细胞化学和免疫组织化学方法，我们对三种食管鳞状癌细胞系 KYSE70、KYSE140 和 KYSE450 中的 HIWI 表达进行了特征描述。然后，我们使用免疫组织化学方法研究了 HIWI 在 153 例食管鳞状细胞癌中的表达，并探讨了其与临床病理特征的关系。
在 137 例（89.5%）病例中观察到 HIWI 在肿瘤细胞核或/和细胞质中的表达，16 例（10.5%）病例在核和细胞质中均为阴性。86 例（56.2%）在细胞质中呈强阳性，而 49 例（32.0%）在核中呈强阳性。食管癌细胞细胞质中 HIWI 的表达水平与组织学分级（P = 0.011）、T 分期（P = 0.035）和临床结局（P < 0.001）显著相关，而核 HIWI 表达与临床病理特征无相关性。
食管癌细胞细胞质中 HIWI 的表达与较高的组织学分级、临床分期和较差的临床结局显著相关，表明其可能参与癌症的发展。
