MOLECULAR ALTERATIONS AND TARGETED THERAPY IN OESOPHAGEAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

Abstract

Oesophageal cancer is one of the most fatal cancers. Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is the predominant histological subtype worldwide with a high incidence rate in Asia. Although significant advancement has been made in surgery and chemoradiotherapy, still it has a very dismal prognosis. These insights have led to the new-found interest into the molecular alterations that may occur in Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma with the objectives to discover novel biomarkers for improving and guiding targeted therapy. Many molecular alterations may occur in oesophageal carcinogenesis. Basically they are of two types: oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. Oncogenes related to ESCC are growth factors, growth factor receptors, signal transducers and nuclear factors. Among the tumour suppressor genes, the important ones are p53, Rb, p16 and p21. In addition, there are genes related to apoptosis and metastasis. This review summarizes all these genes and their deregulated proteins, which have proved to have strong prognostic and therapeutic implications in these patients.