Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2022, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (2): 105-109.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2022.02.005

Previous Articles    

Detection of p38MAPK gene in plasma cell-free DNA among patients with high incidence of esophageal cancer

FENG Zhiyin1, WU Yixian2, HA Xiaodan2, CHEN Wujin2, LI Xiumei2, DONG Juanjuan2   

  1. 1. Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011;
    2. College of Basic Medicine, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2021-12-17 Revised:2022-02-23 Published:2022-04-07

Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To detect the p38MAPK gene in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) samples among Kazak esophageal cancer patients with high incidence of esophageal cancer, and the p38MAPK protein in cancer tissues, to explore their values as new molecular markers for detecting esophageal cancers. METHODS: Fasting peripheral venous blood samples from 20 Kazak esophageal cancer patients were collected before and after they had surgical treatments,and paraffin sections from the corresponding patients' postoperative tissues were collected. Blood samples from 10 healthy Kazaks were collected as controls. The cfDNA samples were extracted by the centrifugation column adsorption method and used for detection of p38MAPK via direct PCR. Expressions of p38MAPK protein in postoperative tissues were detected using immunohistochemistry and compared according to age, gender, degree of differentiation, maximum tumor diameter and T stage in clinicopathological report. RESULTS:The concentrations of cfDNA in blood of Kazakh with esophageal cancer before and after surgical resections were higher than that of healthy Kazakh (P<0.05). The detection rates of p38MAPK gene in cfDNA before operation were significantly higher than that in healthy population group (P< 0.05). However,there was no significant difference in the detection rates of p38MAPK gene in cfDNA after surgical resection between the two groups (P>0.05). Postoperative immunohistochemical detections show that the positive expression rate of p38MAPK protein in highly and moderately differentiated groups was higher than that in poorly differentiated groups (χ2=13.939, P<0.05). The positive expression rate in the group with maximum tumor diameter ≤2.5 cm was higher than that in the group with maximum tumor diameter >2.5 cm (χ2=0.014,P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the positive expression rates of p38MAPK protein between tumor tissues of patients with different age, sex and T stage(P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The concentrations of cfDNA in the blood of esophageal cancer patients were significantly higher than that of healthy people,suggesting that the concentrationscan possibly be used for early esophageal cancer screening. In addition,the detection rates of the p38MAPK gene in cfDNA of these cancer patients were significantly higher than that of healthy people,suggesting that p38MAPK gene in cfDNA can possibly be used as a potential noninvasive new molecular marker to detect the conditions of esophageal cancers.

Key words: esophageal cancer, Kazak, cfDNA, p38MAPK, ctDNA

CLC Number: