Expression of cysteine-rich 61 is correlated with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

IntroductionCysteine-rich 61 (Cyr61), a secreted protein belonged to the CCN family, was involved in the progression of many cancers. The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical significance of Cyr61 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Materials and methodsCyr61 expression was detected on tissue microarrays of ESCC samples in 372 cases by using immunohistochemical staining. Survival analysis was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier analysis. Relative risk was evaluated by the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.ResultsThe staining pattern of Cyr61 was heterogeneous and varied from negative to intense expression in a cytoplasmic distribution. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that expression of Cyr61 was related to poor survival of ESCC patients (P = 0.001). Further analysis revealed that Cyr61 high-expression was related to poorer overall survival of patients in stage I/II (P = 0.001); but did not effect the overall survival of patients in stage III/IV. Univariate and multivariate analysis suggested that Cyr61 expression status was an independent prognostic factor for ESCC (P = 0.001).DiscussionCyr61 might play important roles in the progression of ESCC. Cyr61 is a new biomarker to predict the prognosis of ESCC patients.