SEMI-QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF KAI1 GENE EXPRESSION AND CORRELATION BETWEEN STAGES OF TUMORS, DEMOGRAPHIC AND PATHOLOGIC FACTORS OF PATIENTS WITH SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA OF ESOPHAGUS

KAI1 is a tumor suppressor gene and inhibitor of metastasis in a wide range of malignancies. While it is ubiquitously expressed in normal tissues, KAI1 expression is down regulated in tumors. The present research proposal aims semi quantitative evaluation of KAI1 mRNA expression in Iranian patients with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Esophagus(SCCE) on finding a correlation between expression levels of KAI1 and stage of tumorigenesis, especially metastatasis and invasion of SCCE as well as demographic and pathologic factors of patients. In this study, KAI1 and β-Actin mRNA levels was detected by RT-PCR on 35 tumor tissues and 12 normal tissues as fresh samples obtained from 35 patients referring to Imam Khomeini Hospital. Accordingly, 69.2% and 30.8% of the sample were on and off for KAI1 gene expression, respectively. The samples in stages 3, 4, and metastatic phases showed no expression of this gene. Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant differences of the KAI1 expression between four groups of samples; normal, stage 1, 2, 3 (P <0.05). There is a significant difference between semi-quantitative of KAI1 expression and stages of tumor samples (P <0.05) as well as semi-quantitative of KAI1 expression and metastasis (P = 0.00015). The outcome of the present research proposal would be applicable as a suitable mean for clinicians in order to better treat Esophageal Squamous-Cell Carcinoma.