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Decreased expression of claudin-3 is associated with a poor prognosis and EMT in completely resected squamous cell lung carcinoma

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

The deregulation of claudin-3 has been reported to correlate with the invasion and metastasis of various cancers, but little is known about its expression level and the prognostic value in squamous cell lung carcinoma (SqCC). The purpose of this study is to determine the expression levels and the prognostic value of claudin-3 in completely resected SqCC tissues, and the potential underlying mechanism. The protein expression of claudin-3, E-cadherin, β-catenin, and vimentin in the tumor tissues from 103 patients with surgically resected SqCC was examined using immunohistochemistry, western blots, as well as semi-quantitative estimation. The claudin-3 protein level was significantly associated with E-cadherin, β-catenin, and vimentin protein expression. A decreased claudin-3 protein level was significantly correlated with TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and disease recurrence. Similarly, downregulation of E-cadherin was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and disease recurrence. Decreased β-catenin expression also had a significant correlation with disease recurrence. Univariate analyses indicated that the T stage, lymph node metastasis, the TNM stage, and the expression of claudin-3, β-catenin, and vimentin were significant predictors for overall survival (OS). Moreover, multivariate analyses demonstrated that the TNM stage and protein levels of claudin-3, β-catenin, and vimentin were independent predictors for OS of SqCC patients. Claudin-3 plays an important role in the epithelial–mesenchymal transition of SqCC and might be used as a potential prognostic factor for SqCC.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants No. 81272615 from the Natural Science Foundation of China (to Bangwei Cao), No. 2011-3-007 from the Beijing Municipal Health System High-level Health Person Foundation Project (to Bangwei Cao), and No. yyqdkt2014-11 from the Beijing Friendship Hospital Scientific Research Foundation Project (to Juanjuan Che).

Author contributions

Juanjuan Che performed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. Yifan Yang, Jing Xiao, and Pengfei Zhao designed the experiment and collected the tumor samples. Bo Yan and Shuo Dong analyzed the experimental data. Bangwei Cao directed the work and edited the manuscript.

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None

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Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Data sharing statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. This work is original and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, #95 Yong An Road, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100050, People’s Republic of China

    Juanjuan Che, Yifan Yang, Jing Xiao, Pengfei Zhao & Bangwei Cao

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, 75390, USA

    Bo Yan

  3. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Shuo Dong

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  1. Juanjuan Che
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Correspondence to Bangwei Cao.

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Che, J., Yang, Y., Xiao, J. et al. Decreased expression of claudin-3 is associated with a poor prognosis and EMT in completely resected squamous cell lung carcinoma. Tumor Biol. 36, 6559–6568 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3350-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3350-1

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