Correlation of CTSD, P63, and Ki67 Expressions with Risk Assessment of Oesophageal Squamous-Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Objective. Creatine kinase (CK), cathepsin D (CTSD), Ki67, and tumour protein 63 (p63) have been proven to participate in the growth of some cancers. However, available literature suggested paucity of data on their involvement in oesophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC) development. Methods. We ascertained the presence of CK, CTSD, Ki67, and p63 expressions in ESCC to demonstrate the association between differentiation of ESCC and expressions of the abovementioned proteins. We collected related information on 48 patients prior to their division into well and poor differentiation groups, which were analysed retrospectively. Positive rates of protein expression were evaluated via immunohistochemistry. The proteins that were expressed positively in all the cases were selected. Comparison of the proteins within two groups was done to analyse the correlation between tumour differentiation and their expression. Results. We observed that CTSD, p63, and Ki67 were significantly and highly expressed in poorly differentiated patients with ESCC. Conclusions. This finding may suggest that the proteins were involved in ESCC progression, which may evidentially serve as potential markers of early identification and risk assessment of ESCC.