Prognostic significance of XIAP and NF-κB expression in esophageal carcinoma with postoperative radiotherapy

BACKGROUND: X-chromosome-linked IAP (XIAP) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) are frequently overexpressed and correlate closely with chemoradiotherapy resistance and poor prognosis in many cancers. However, the significance of XIAP and NF-κB expression in radiotherapy sensitivity and its effect on the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) are still unknown. The aim of this study was to examine XIAP and NF-κB status in ESCC patients undergoing postoperative radiotherapy after radical surgery, and to evaluate their clinical significance. METHODS: A total of 78 ESCC patients treated with postoperative radiotherapy after radical surgery were enrolled in this study. We immunohistochemically investigated the expression of XIAP and NF-κB in tissues from enrolled patients with specific antibodies. Then, the correlations among XIAP, NF-κB expression, clinicopathological features and its prognostic relevance in ESCC were analyzed. RESULTS: The increased expression of XIAP and NF-κB in ESCC tissues were clearly correlated with the tumor differentiation and p-TNM stage. Significant positive correlations were found between the expression status of XIAP and NF-κB (r = 0.779, P = 0.000). Overexpression of XIAP and NF-κB and metastasis were significantly associated with shorter overall survival times in univariate analysis (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis also confirmed that XIAP expression was an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: XIAP and NF-κB are intensively expressed in ESCC. The level of XIAP is positively correlated to progression and prognosis of ESCC.