Abstract
BackgroundRBM3 expression has been suggested as prognostic marker in several cancer types. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of altered RBM3 expression in esophageal cancer.MethodsRBM3 protein expression was measured by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays containing samples from 359 esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and 254 esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) patients with oncological follow-up data.ResultsWhile nuclear RBM3 expression was always high in benign esophageal epithelium, high RBM3 expression was only detectable in 66.4% of interpretable EACs and 59.3% of ESCCs. Decreased RBM3 expression was linked to a subset of EACs with advanced UICC stage and presence of distant metastasis (P = 0.0031 and P = 0.0024). In ESCC, decreased RBM3 expression was associated with advanced UICC stage, high tumor stage, and positive lymph node status (P = 0.0213, P = 0.0061, and P = 0.0192). However, RBM3 expression was largely unrelated to survival of patients with esophageal cancer (EAC: P = 0.212 and ESCC: P = 0.5992).ConclusionsIn summary, the present study shows that decreased RBM3 expression is associated with unfavourable esophageal cancer phenotype, but not significantly linked to patient prognosis.
Highlights
RNA binding-protein 3 (RBM3) expression has been suggested as prognostic marker in several cancer types
RBM3 immunostaining in esophageal cancers A total of 268 of 359 (74.7%) of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and 226 of 254 (89%) of esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) samples were interpretable for immunohistochemistry in our Tissue microarray (TMA) analysis
High RBM3 expression was only detectable in 66.4% of 268 interpretable EAC and in 59.3% of 226 ESCC specimens
Summary
RBM3 expression has been suggested as prognostic marker in several cancer types. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of altered RBM3 expression in esophageal cancer. There are limited clinical approaches for the early diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer, resulting in only a 10% five-year survival rate for patients. It can be hoped, that the identification of novel biological markers and tumorigenic pathways will improve therapeutic strategies for esophageal cancer patients. RBM3 is a glycine-rich RNA-binding protein and part of the family of cold shock proteins [1]. Proteins from this family are induced by various environmental stresses, including hypoxia [2] and cold [2,3,4]. RBM3 bind to DNA and RNA [5] and is involved in maintenance of DNA integrity, including DNA-dependent replication, DNA replication, chromatin remodeling, DNA integrity checkpoints [6] and regulation of RNA metabolism, including splicing, stability and transport of mRNA [1]
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