IGF2BP3 as a potential tissue marker for the diagnosis of esophageal high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia

Abstract

Background

The clinical significance of insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein-3 (IGF2BP3) in esophageal high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIN) is not clear. This study was designed to characterize the expression of IGF2BP3 in HGIN.

Patients and methods

IGF2BP3 expression was evaluated by Western blot analyses in 12 cases and by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 112 cases. The associations between IGF2BP3 expression in HGIN and the clinicopathological parameters were examined.

Results

Moderate to strong IGF2BP3 expression was present in HGIN samples. Using IHC, it was found that IGF2BP3 was positive in 68 (60.71%) cases. Intense IHC of IGF2BP3 in HGIN was associated with a deeper lesion depth, and the lesion depth was the only predictor of the positive expression of IGF2BP3.

Conclusion

Our results suggested that IGF2BP3 may be a supplementary tissue marker for preoperative diagnosis of HGIN.

Keywords:

• esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
• precancerous lesion
• immunohistochemistry detection
• early diagnosis

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20151037). We thank all the patients enrolled in this study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.