Title : Transcription factor 4 expression in gallbladder cancer
Abstract:
Dysregulation of β-catenin/TCF4 interaction in Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays a critical role in gastrointestinal cancers. Interaction of β-catenin with T-cell factor-4 (TCF4) is a key step in the activation of Wnt genes. The Expression of TCF4 was performed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry on 33 surgically resected specimens of gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) and 12 cases of chronic cholecystitis (CC) as control. Relative mRNA expression levels of β-catenin and TCF4 were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in GBC tissues than in CC samples. TCF4 protein expression was observed in 81.82% (27/33) GBC cases. Specifically, among GBC samples, 21.21% (7/33) was graded as strongly positive, 60.61% (20/33) graded as moderately positive, whereas 18.18% (6/33) graded as negative. All 12 CC samples graded as negative. Overall, TCF4 expression was statistically significant in GBC tissues over CC samples (P < 0.05). Moreover, we observed that TCF4 expression was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in high tumor grades than low grade, higher (P < 0.05) in stage 2 and stage 3 than stage 1.
