STC1 promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression and is associated with poor prognosis.

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a malignant tumor that poses a significant threat to human health. Patients are often diagnosed at advanced stages of the disease, resulting in poor clinical outcomes and a short survival period. Recent advances have revealed that ESCC tumors exhibit distinct molecular biological characteristics. Our study investigated the expression and biological function of Stanniocalcin-1 (STC1) in ESCC.

Methods: We collected paraffin-embedded tumor tissues from 127 patients with ESCC at Xijing Hospital, as well as fresh tissue specimens from 21 patients who underwent radical resection of ESCC, including both tumor and adjacent normal tissues. The expression levels of STC1 in ESCC tissues and cells were assessed using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blot analysis. We employed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis to explore the impact of STC1 expression on the prognosis of ESCC patients. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of STC1 expression on the malignant behavior of ESCC cells through both in vivo and in vitro experiments.

Results: Compared to normal esophageal tissue, STC1 is overexpressed in ESCC tissue. Univariate and multivariate analyses of clinical data indicated that patients with STC1 overexpression had a poor prognosis (P = 0.009 and P = 0.015). Both cell experiments and xenograft models demonstrated that the upregulation of STC1 may promote the malignant behavior of ESCC, and conversely, its downregulation may inhibit such behavior.

Conclusion: The overexpression of STC1 enhances the migration, invasion and proliferation of ESCC cells, and is significantly associated with poor prognosis in ESCC patients. Therefore, STC1 may serve as a promising prognostic factor and could also be a potential target for ESCC-specific therapy.