Expression of Stathmin and vascular endothelial growth factor C in esophageal cancer and their combined diagnostic value.

PURPOSE

To investigate the expression of Stathmin and vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) in the serum of patients with esophageal cancer (EC) and the diagnostic value of the combined two factors.

METHODS

88 EC patients (the EC Group) treated in Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital and 50 healthy people (the Control Group) were selected as subjects of this study. After detecting the levels of Stathmin mRNA and VEGF-C mRNA using real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and the expression levels of Stathmin protein and VEGF-C protein using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), analysis of the relationship between the expression levels of Stathmin mRNA and VEGF-C mRNA in the serum and the clinicopathological features of EC were analyzed.

RESULTS

The levels of Stathmin mRNA and VEGF-C mRNA, Stathmin protein and VEGF-C protein in the serum of the Control Group were lower than those in the EC group (p<0.001). The mRNA and protein expressions of Stathmin and VEGF-C in the serum of EC group were related to lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, grade of differentiation and degree of infiltration (p<0.05). Compared with the combined detection of mRNA, the sensitivity of separate detection of Stathmin mRNA and VEGF-C mRNA was lower, but the specificity of the separate detection of Stathmin mRNA was higher (p<0.05). Compared with the sensitivity of the combined detection of protein, the sensitivity of the separate test of Stathmin protein and VEGF-C protein was lower (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Stathmin and VEGF-C could be used as markers for early diagnosis of EC, and the combined detection of the two factors could improve the sensitivity of diagnosis since the expression levels of mRNAs and proteins of Stathmin and VEGFC in the serum of EC patients were proved to be higher than those of healthy volunteers.