Clinical significance of EGFR and EGFRvlll expression in human esophageal carcinoma

Epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR] and its mutated variant EGFRvlll are involved in the occurrence and development of malignancies. Our objective was to find a correlation between EGFR and EGFRvlll expression in esophageal carcinoma and clinical outcomes. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis were applied to detect expression of EGFR and EGFR vlll in specimens of esophageal carcinoma patients. Patient-matched normal tissues served as the control. EGFR and EGFRvlll were detected in cell membrane and cytoplasm. A significantly higher expression of EGFR and EGFRvlll was observed in tumors as compared to normal tissues. Moreover, the expression of EGFR and EGFRvlll in esophageal carcinoma was significantly associated with the tumor location and degree of tumor invasion, tumor-node- metastasis [TNM] staging, pathological grade, and lymph node metastasis. However, there were no significant associations with age, invasiveness, tumor size, or growth pattern. The over expression of EGFR or EGFRvlll is related with the malignant degree, and EGFR or EGFRvlll may be a novel promising indicator for early diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma

Construction of a prokaryotic expression vector for Apoptin and expression in E.coli / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

Objective To construct an Apoptin prokaryotic vector,aiming to produce antigenic fusion protein Apoptin. Methods The Apoptin gene was amplified from the template of plasmid pSSCHG/NT4-Apoptin-HA2-TAT by PCR.The Apoptin was sub-cloned into the multiple clone sites of plasmid pET-28a(+) to get the prokaryotic vector of pET-28a(+)-Apoptin,which was transformed into E.coli BL21(DE3).Expression of E.coli BL21(DE3) was induced by IPTG.The specific protein expression was detected by SDS-PAGE. Results The fusion protein was expressed with high efficiency in E.coli BL21(DE3) transformed by pET-28a(+)-Apoptin after induction with IPTG.The specific fusion protein had an apparent related molecular weight of about 17 000 ku as indicated by SDA-PAGE analysis. Conclusion The Apoptin prokaryotic expression vector with pET-28a(+)-Apoptin can effectively express Apoptin fusion protein,laying a foundation for further study of Apoptin and preparation of antibodies against Apoptin.