Tumor cell expression of podoplanin correlates with nodal metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Wen-Yu Chuang¹, Chi-Ju Yeh¹, Yi-Chin Wu¹, Yin-Kai Chao², Yun-Hen Liu², Chen-Kan Tseng³, Hsien-Kun Chang⁴, Hui-Ping Liu⁵ and Chuen Hsueh<sup>1

1</sup>Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linko, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ²Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linko, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ³Department of Radiation Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linko, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ⁴Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linko, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan and ⁵Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Offprint requests to: Chuen Hsueh, Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 5 Fu-Hsing Street, Kwei-Shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan. e-mail: ch9211@adm.cgmh.org.tw


Summary. Podoplanin is a mucin-like glycoprotein expressed in the lymphatic endothelium. It has been suggested to play a role in lymphangiogenesis, since podoplanin deficient mice were found to have dilated malfunctioning lymphatic vessels and lymphedema. High podoplanin expression in tumor cells was found to correlate with lymph node metastasis and poor clinical outcome in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, the prognostic significance of podoplanin expression in esophageal SCC remains unexplored. Herein, we studied podoplanin expression in 59 patients who underwent surgical resection of esophageal SCC, with 43 of them preceded by preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). We found that high podoplanin expression strongly correlated with clinical nodal metastasis (cN1; p=0.0063), which was associated with short survival (p=0.012). However, there was no direct association between high podoplanin expression and short survival. We also found that lymphatic vessel invasion in the resected esophagus was strongly associated with pathological nodal metastasis (pN1; p=0.00092). Our results suggest that podoplanin could also play a role in tumor aggressiveness in esophageal SCC, as well as in oral SCC. Histol Histopathol 24, 1021-1027 (2009)

Key words: Podoplanin, Esophagus, Squamous cell carcinoma, Survival, Nodal metastasis

DOI: 10.14670/HH-24.1021