Abstract
BACKGROUND:
p21-activated kinase 7 is a member of the group II p21-activated kinase (PAK) family which is known to play important role in tumorigenesis and metastasis. However, the expression of p21-activated kinase 7 in esophageal squamous cell cancers and the correlation with clinical parameters has never been investigated.
OBJECTIVE:
To explore the role of p21-activated kinase 7 in esophageal squamous cell cancers.
METHODS:
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma samples were collected and the expression of p21-activated kinase 7 was detected by immunohistochemistry. In vitro cell invasion assay was employed in EC9706 cells and EC9706PAK7 cells. Metastasis related genes were evaluated by Real-time PCR and Western Blot.
RESULTS:
In 85 samples, 44 (51.8%) samples showed strong expression and expression of PAK7 was significantly correlated with lymph node stage (p= 0.013) and TNM stage (p= 0.041). In vitro invasion assay showed that the invasion ability of EC9706 PAK7 cells increased 2.5 folds compared with EC9706 cells. PAK7 could enhance the protein levels of Vimentin and MMP10, but reduce E-cadherin, TIMP1 and TIMP2.
CONCLUSION:
PAK7 is overexpressed in human esophageal squamous cell cancer samples and correlated with lymph node metastasis.