The Expression of TP63 as a Biomarker of Early Recurrence in Resected Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma after Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy

Abstract

Esophageal cancer ranks among the ten most common cancers worldwide. Despite the adoption of neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (nCCRT) followed by surgery as the standard treatment approach in recent years, the local recurrence rate remains high. In this study, we employed RNA-seq to investigate distinctive gene expression profiles in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with or without recurrence following a standard treatment course. Our findings indicate that recurrent ESCC exhibits heightened keratinizing and epidermis development activity compared to non-recurrent ESCC. We identified TP63 as a potential candidate for distinguishing clinical outcomes. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry confirmed the trend of TP63 overexpression in ESCC recurrence. Patients with elevated TP63 expression had poorer overall survival and lower 3-year recurrence-free survival. This study underscores the potential of TP63 as a biomarker for detecting cancer recurrence and suggests its role in guiding future treatment options.