Expression of ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) and its prognostic significance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Objective: To explore the expression of ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L1 (UCH-L1) in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) as well as its clinical significance. Methods: 215 cases of ESCC were evaluated by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry for UCH-L1 expression and its clinical significance and prognostic value was investigated. Results: The positive rate of UCH-L1 was 45.6% in ESCC. There was a significant correlation between the expression of UCH-L1 and lymph node metastasis (P=0.023) and tumor stage (P=0.006). KaplanMeier analysis showed that patients with UCH-L1 positive expression had shorter survival duration than those without UCH-L1 expression. Cox regression model revealed that UCH-L1 was an independent prognostic factor for ESCC. Conclusions: Our results showed that UCH-L1 expression significantly increased with the progression of ESCC, implying the importance of UCH-L1 as a potential biomarker in cancer diagnosis and treatment.