Metallothionein expression correlates with the pathological response of patients with esophageal cancer undergoing preoperative chemoradiation therapy

Immunohistochemical staining for metallothionein (MT) and p53 was performed on biopsy specimens of 30 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who had received curative resection following preoperative chemoradiation. The pathologic response to chemoradiation was a partial response in 19 cas es and no change was observed in 11 cases. In 16 cases with MT-positive tum or, 10 (62.5%) showed no change. In 14 cases with MT-negative tumor, 13 (92 .8%) showed partial response. In 8 patients with negative staining for p53 and MT, 7 were responders, whereas in 9 patients with positive staining for p53 and MT, 6 were nonresponders. The pathologic response was significantl y associated with the prognosis (p = 0.0167). The survival rate of the resp onders was significantly better than that of the non-responders. These find ings suggest that MT might be a prognostic marker, and consequently we can select the patients who will benefit from preoperative chemoradiation.