P53 gene expression evaluation in patients with esophageal cancer using reverse transcriptase real time polymerase chain reaction

Esophageal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the world. The incidence of esophageal cancer is very high in Iran. The incidence of high mutations in the P53 in both cancers of the esophagus (esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus (EAC) has been reported. P53 is one of the most well-known tumor suppressor genes that in half of all human tumors have mutated. The P53 protein to be activated against damaged DNA. Therefore, as an important target for investigation in cancer research. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, this is the first study of P53 gene expression evaluation in patients with esophageal cancer using reverse transcriptase real time polymerase chain reaction in Iran. This study was conducted as a historical cohort study. At the present study, the P53 gene expression in patients with esophageal cancer was studied in Iran. Fifteen paraffin-embedded tissue samples from esophageal cancer and 15 healthy collected from medical treatment centers (Zabol, Zahedan and Kashan) were used to measure the expression of the P53 gene by using RT-qPCR. RT-qPCR reactions were performed with three repetitions for the P53 gene and internal control (β-actin) using 2-∆∆CT (Livac) method for all samples. P53 gene expression in two groups of patients and controls were analyzed by t-test. The results indicated high significant difference in P53 gene expression between patients and controls (p<0.05). P53 gene expression in patients was 12 times more than healthy group (p<0.05). It seems that the P53 gene expression is likely to be used as a biomarker in esophageal cancer.