Abstract 5745: Study on telomere shelterin component TPP1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most aggressive cancer and ranks the sixth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, approximately 70% of global esophageal carcinoma cases occur in China and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most frequent histological subtype of EC. Lacking of reliable early diagnostic markers and efficient medical and surgical treatment approaches, the five-year survival rate of ESCC is only about 4.4%.Therefore exploration of the genetic basis and the affiliated molecular mechanisms in ESCC could be beneficial to improve the diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of this disease. As an important telomere binding protein, TPP1 protects the ends of telomeres and maintains the genomic stability and integrity of chromosomes in eukaryotes. Previous investigation discovered that TPP1 might play an important role in the carcinogenesis and progression of some cancers. However, whether and/or how TPP1 participates in ESCC remains unclear. Here TPP1 was studied in 65 ESCC patients’ specimens including tumor tissue, the adjacent tissue, and the peripheral blood leukocytes, also the ESCC cell lines were employed to further explore the molecular mechanisms of TPP1 involved in the tumorigenesis of ESCC. In this study, TPP1 mRNA and protein were measured in the ESCC tissue specimens, peripheral blood leukocytes and also in ESCC cell lines using real time RT-PCR and Western Blot. The results showed that TPP1 mRNA level was significantly higher in ESCC tumor tissues compared with the adjacent tissues (P