The association between nm23-H1 expression and survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The nm23 gene is a potential metastasis suppressor gene originally identifi ed using a murine melanoma cell line. The expression of nm23-H1 protein was examined immunohistochemically in 50 eligible patients with esophageal squ amous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The expression was not correlated with other p rognostic factors including lymph node metastases; however, overall surviva l rates of nm23-H1-negative patients were significantly shorter than those of nm23-H1-positive patients (P < 0.05). Furthermore, reduced expression of nm23-H1 was associated with shorter overall survival in patients with invo lved lymph nodes (P < 0.01), but not in patients without involved lymph nod es. These data support the conclusion that reduced expression of nm23-H1 ma y be associated with poor prognosis of ESCC patients, suggesting the value of nm23-H1 expression as a prognostic marker for ESCC patients, especially ESCC patients with involved lymph nodes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.