BACKGROUND: At present, there is no effective targeted therapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and it is urgent to find new targets for the treatment of ESCC. TRAF4 has been regarded as a cause of carcinogenesis due to overexpression in many cancer types and participation in multiple signaling pathways. However, there are few studies on TRAF4 in ESCC worldwide. Its expression in ESCC and whether it affects the prognosis of patients still remain unclear.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We detected the expressions of TRAF4, ki-67, and p53 in 100 cases of ESCC and 80 cases of adjacent normal esophageal squamous epithelium tissues by immunohistochemical technique. We further explored the relationship between TRAF4 and ESCC and its prognosis through statistical analysis.

RESULTS: TRAF4 was highly expressed in ESCC tissues and was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm. Overexpression of TRAF4 in ESCC was also associated with high expression of ki-67 and p53 (P<0.05). We also found that patients with high expression of TRAF4 had significantly lower OS than in patients with low TRAF4 expression (P<0.05). Overexpression of TRAF4 was an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: We found that TRAF4 was highly expressed in ESCC tissues and was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of cancer cells. Overexpression of TRAF4 was an independent risk factor affecting the overall prognosis of patients. The results indicated that TRAF4 may become a new target for the treatment of ESCC in the future.

Keywords: Esophageal Neoplasms, Ki-67 Antigen, TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 4, Tumor Suppressor Protein p53, Aged, 80 and over, Biomarkers, Tumor, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma