Expression of TAZ and Lats2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and their clinical significance

BAI Fan; JIN Li; HE Xinbin; CHEN Longbang; SONG Haizhu

Abstract：Objective To explore the expression of TAZ and Lats2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma( ESCC) , and the correlation of their expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis. Methods TAZ and Lats2 expression were determined by MaxVision immunohistochemical method in 145 ESCC tissues and 39 adjacent normal tissues, and their correlation with clinicopatholog-ical features were analyzed. Overall survival( OS) and progression-free survival( PFS) were further investigated. Results The high ex-pression rate of TAZ in ESCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues was 58. 6%( 85/145) and 38. 5%( 15/39) with significant difference (P<0. 05). TAZ expression level in tumor tissues was correlated with depth of invasion, lymph node status, tumor differentiation, tumor size and pTNM stages( P<0. 05) . The high expression rate of Lats2 in ESCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues was 45. 5%( 66/145) and 64. 1%(25/39) with significant difference(P<0. 05). Lats2 expression level in tumor tissues was correlated with depth of in-vasion, lymph node status and pTNM stages( P<0. 05) . In ESCC tissues, the expression of TAZ and Lats2 showed negative correlation ( r=-0. 272, P=0. 001) . The median OS and PFS of patients with high TAZ expression was 30 months and 20 months, lower than 59 months and 57 months of patients with low TAZ expression( P<0. 001) . The median OS and PFS of patients with high Lats2 expression was 42 months and 33 months, higher than 32 months and 18 months of patients with low Lats2 expression(P=0. 035, P=0. 019). Conclusion The expression of TAZ and Lats2 were bound up with the occurrence and progress of ESCC, and it may account for the e-valuation and the treatment of ESCC.