Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histiologia
Abstract
Squamous dysplasia of the esophagus is an
unequivocal neoplastic alteration of the esophageal
squamous epithelium without invasion. Esophageal high
grade dysplasia (EHGD) is characterized by >50%
epithelial involvement or severe cytological atypia.
Frequently, lymphocytes accumulate below EHGD
lesions even though there is no invasion. If this
lymphocytic accumulation is active, a transmitter should
exist between the EHGD cells and the lymphocytes. CX-C motif chemokine ligand (CXCL) 12, CXCL10 and
C-C motif chemokine ligand 18 (CCL18) are all
lymphocyte chemoattractants in vivo, but there are no
reports on the relationship between these chemokines
and EHGDs. In this study, we investigated these
chemokines and C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4
(CXCR4) (receptor for CXCL12) in 30 EHGDs using
immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription
polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). For comparison,
we enrolled 30 samples of normal esophageal squamous
epithelium (NESE). We confirmed CXCL12 expression
(H-score≥50 points) in 70% of EHGD and 0% of NESE
samples, CXCL10 expression in 3% of EHGD and 3%
of NESE samples, CCL18 expression in 3% of EHGD
and 0% of NESE samples, and CXCR4 expression in
53% of EHGD and 0% of NESE samples by
immunohistochemistry. EHGD and NESE cases were
significantly different in their expressions between the
tissue types (CXCL12, p<0.001; CXCR4, p<0.001). We
examined CXCL12 and CXCR4 mRNA expressions of 3
representative EHGD samples, each having their
respective immunostained areas detected by RT-PCR.
Finding CXCL12 expression may indicate that this
chemokine plays a part in the lymphocyte accumulation
that occurs directly under EHGDs