Aim: To understand the role of iPS inductive genes in esophageal cancer, we examined the expression of Sex determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2), Octamer-binding transcription factor 3/4 (OCT3/4), Krueppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), c-Myelocytomatosis viral oncogene (c-MYC) and Tir Na Nog (NANOG) using an esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue micrroarray.
Materials and methods: The immunohistochemical expression levels of the five genes were compared to the clinicopathological data of the 81 patients with esophageal cancer.
Results: There was no relationship between the expression of the five genes and TNM factors of the patients. High expression of NANOG was an independent favorable prognostic factor (p=0.041). Among the patients who received postoperative cisplatin-based chemotherapy, patients with NANOG-positive tumor had significantly better prognosis than those whose tumors were NANOG negative (p=0.024). On the other hand, those with c-MYC-positive expression tended to have a worse prognosis and were resistant to cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Conclusion: NANOG expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor for patient with esophageal cancer. Patients with NANOG-positive expression tumor may be good candidates for cisplatin-based treatment.