Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Institute of Pathology, Department of Experimental and Translational Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Cells. 2019 Oct 30;8(11):1357. doi: 10.3390/cells8111357.
AF1q impairs survival in hematologic and solid malignancies. AF1q expression is associated with tumor progression, migration, and chemoresistance, and acts as a transcriptional co-activator in WNT and STAT signaling. This study evaluates the role of AF1q in patients with resectable esophageal cancer (EC). A total of 278 patients operated on for esophageal cancer were retrospectively included, and the expression of AF1q, CD44, and pYSTAT3 was analyzed following immunostaining. Quantified data were processed to correlational and survival analysis. In EC patients, an elevated expression of AF1q was associated with CD44 ( = 0.004), and pYSTAT3 ( = 0.0002). High AF1q expression in primary tumors showed high AF1q expression in the corresponding lymph nodes ( 0.016). AF1q expression was higher after neoadjuvant therapy ( 0.0002). Patients with AF1q-positive EC relapsed and died earlier compared to patients with AF1q-negative EC (disease-free survival (DFS), 0.0005; disease-specific survival (DSS), 0.003); in the multivariable Cox regression model, AF1q proved to be an independent prognostic marker (DFS, 0.01; DSS, 0.03). AF1q is associated with WNT and STAT signaling; it impairs and independently predicts DFS and DSS in patients with resectable EC. The testing of AF1q could facilitate prognosis estimation and provide a possibility of identifying the patients responsive to the therapeutic blockade of its oncogenic downstream targets.
AF1q 可降低血液系统和实体瘤的存活率。AF1q 的表达与肿瘤进展、迁移和化疗耐药性有关，并作为 WNT 和 STAT 信号转导的转录共激活因子发挥作用。本研究评估了 AF1q 在可切除食管癌（EC）患者中的作用。共回顾性纳入 278 例接受食管癌手术的患者，通过免疫组化分析 AF1q、CD44 和 pYSTAT3 的表达。对定量数据进行相关和生存分析。在 EC 患者中，AF1q 的高表达与 CD44（ = 0.004）和 pYSTAT3（ = 0.0002）相关。原发肿瘤中高 AF1q 表达的患者相应淋巴结中也有高 AF1q 表达（ = 0.016）。新辅助治疗后 AF1q 表达更高（ = 0.0002）。与 AF1q 阴性 EC 患者相比，AF1q 阳性 EC 患者复发和死亡更早（无病生存期（DFS）， 0.0005；疾病特异性生存期（DSS）， 0.003）；在多变量 Cox 回归模型中，AF1q 被证明是一个独立的预后标志物（DFS， 0.01；DSS， 0.03）。AF1q 与 WNT 和 STAT 信号转导有关；它可降低可切除 EC 患者的 DFS 和 DSS，并具有独立的预测作用。AF1q 的检测可有助于预后评估，并为识别对其致癌下游靶点治疗性阻断有反应的患者提供可能。
