Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Behera, Gayatri
• Mitra, Suvradeep
• Mishra, Tushar S
• Purkait, Suvendu

Titel

Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2) in Malignant Progression of Gallbladder Carcinoma

Ist Teil von

• Journal of gastrointestinal cancer, 2021-09, Vol.52 (3), p.1029-1034

Ort / Verlag

New York: Springer US

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

SpringerLink

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Purpose Data related to the role of epigenetic modifications in gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is limited. We intended to assess the role of crucial epigenetic modifiers pertaining to histone modification and DNA-methylation system in gallbladder carcinogenesis. Methods The expression of EZH2, H3K27me3, and DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in cases of GBC ( n = 39), gallbladder dysplasia (GBD, n = 12), and benign mucosa (BM, n = 16). A semi-quantitative scoring system was used for assessing the immunohistochemical expression. Results The expression of EZH2 was significantly higher in cases of GBC than GBD ( p value 0.001). The cases of BM were negative. Its expression was also higher in poorly differentiated tumors and positively correlated with the proliferative activity (MIB-1 labeling index) ( p value 0.03 and 0.01, respectively). There was no significant difference in the expression levels of H3K27me3, DNMT-1, and DNMT-3B among GBC, GBD, and BM cases. Although GBC cases with strong EZH2 expression showed a shorter overall survival, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion This study highlights the crucial role of the key epigenetic regulators EZH2 in the pathobiology and evolution of gallbladder carcinogenesis. Given the reversibility of epigenetic alterations, EZH2 may be a novel therapeutic target for gallbladder carcinogenesis.