Prognostic significance of hst-1 gene amplification in primary esophageal carcinomas and its relationship to other prognostic factors.

We studied hst-1 gene amplification in 50 primary human esophageal carcinomas using Southern blot analysis. We found 3- to 9-fold amplification of the hst-1 gene in 15 out of 50 (30.0%) DNA samples from primary tumors. There was no evidence of a correlation between hst-1 gene amplification and several prognostic factors other than the histological type; hst-1 gene amplification was more common in well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Survival rates for patients bearing tumors with and without hst-1 gene amplification were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and evaluated by the log-rank test. The survival curves for the two groups were almost identical. These results suggest that amplification of the hst-1 gene is a poor indicator of the prognosis of patients who have undergone surgery for primary esophageal carcinoma.