RESUMO
Objective:To examine the expression of TRAF6 in esophageal organization from protein level and analyze the correlations between TRAF6 expression and clinical features.Methods: Seventy-eight patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma who were admitted to the Department of Oncology , Henan Province Hospital of TCM from January 2005 and January 2010 were finally eligible for present study and the corresponding esophageal normal tissues and clinical data were collected .All the specimens were confirmed by pathology for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma or esophageal normal tissues .The expression of TRAF6 in the tissue samples was detected by immunohistochemistry .The correlation between the TRAF6 expression and clinical characteristics of patients was analyzed.Results:The positive expression rate of TRAF 6 in esophageal cancer organizations and normal esophageal mucosal tissues were 71.79%and 10.26%,respectively.The positive expression rate of TRAF6 in esophageal cancer were significantly higher than those in normal esophageal mucosal tissue ( P0.05),but with lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (P<0.05).Patients with positive TRAF6 expression had significantly lower five-year survival rate than those with tumors having positive TAK1 expression.Conclusion:TRAF6 may play an important role in the pathology and development of squamous cell carcinoma ,and could be an important therapeutic target in the treatment of esophageal cancer .