RESUMO
Purpose To investigate the difference of expression of autophagy-related gene (Beclin1,LC3,mTOR) in the development of esophageal squamous cell cancer.Methods Immunohistochemical EnVision method was adopted to detect the expression of autophagy-related gene Beclinl,LC3 and mTOR in 30 cases of normal esophageal mucosa,32 cases of low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN),34 cases of highgrade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIN),35 cases of early carcinoma and 126 cases of advanced esophageal carcinoma,respectively.The correlation between their expression with clinicopathologic factors was also analysed.Results The expression of Beclin1 in advanced esophageal carcinoma was obviously higher than that in another four groups (P ＜ 0.005).LC3 expression in advanced esophageal carcinoma was significantly higher than that in normal esophageal mucosa,LGIN and early carcinoma (P ＜ 0.005).The expression of mTOR in advanced esophageal carcinoma was significantly higher than that in normal esophageal mucosa,LGIN and HGIN (P ＜ 0.005).In advanced esophageal carcinoma group,the expression of Beclin1,LC3 and mTOR was related to tumor TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (P ＜ 0.05).Beclin1 expression was positively associated with LC3 and mTOR expression in advanced squamous cell carcinoma (P ＜ 0.05).Positive correlation was also observed between the expression of mTOR and LC3 in advanced esophageal carcinoma and HGIN (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion In the carcinogenesis and development of esophageal cancer,Beclin1,as a tumor suppressor gene,activates autophagy and leads to excessive self consumption and death of tumor cells.mTOR promotes tumor growth by inhibiting autophagy and promoting angiogenesis.The combined detection of Beclinl,LC3 and mTOR may be beneficial to evaluate the progression and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell cancer.