Expression analysis of CD44 isoforms S and V3, in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE(S): CD44 is a member of the cell adhesion molecules family. Naturally, CD44S, along with CD44V3 influence the cell motility, migration, and adhesion, while in tumor cells they lead to tumor invasion, progression, and metastasis. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the CD44S and CD44V3 expression in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) and to reveal their correlations with clinicopathological features of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fresh tumoral and distant tumor-free esophageal tissues were obtained from 50 patients with ESCC. Using quantitative real-time PCR, the expression levels of CD44S and CD44V3 were quantified and compared in both groups of cells. The patients had not received any therapeutic interference, such as chemotherapy or radiation, prior to sampling. RESULTS: Significant overexpression of CD44S and CD44V3 mRNA was observed in 13 (26.0%, P=0.03) and 11 (22.0%, P=0.007) tumor specimens, respectively. The expression of the genes were significantly correlated not only with each other (P=0.0001), but also with differentiation grade of tumor (P=0.033), stage of tumor progression (P=0.003), and depth of tumor invasion (P=0.00). In addition, low level of CD44V3 mRNA expression was attended to be associated with tumor invasion. CONCLUSION: There is no correlation between CD44S expression with clinicopathological features of patients; however, simultaneous expression of these genes has an important effect on tumorigenesis.