High expression of tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 in tissue is associated with progression and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Summary In recent years, the role of TNFR2 has attracted much attention for its promotion role in several types of tumors. However, in ESCC, the clinical relevance of TNFR2 is still unknown. In this study, we detected TNFR2 expression in ESCC tissues using IHC. The χ 2 test showed that TNFR2 was positively correlated with invasion depth, advanced clinical stage and low differentiation; survival analysis showed that TNFR2 was positively correlated with poor OS; univariate Cox regression analysis showed that clinical stage, lymph node involvement and invasion depth were all correlated with OS; multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that lymph node involvement and invasion depth were independent prognostic factors. In male cases, TNFR2 was positively correlated with invasion depth, advanced clinical stage, low differentiation and poor OS; univariate Cox regression analysis showed that clinical stage, lymph node involvement and invasion depth were all associated with OS; multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that lymph node involvement was an independent prognostic factor. In female cases, TNFR2 was positively correlated with invasion depth, advanced clinical stage and poor OS; univariate Cox regression analysis showed that only lymph node involvement was associated with OS. All the results confirmed that TNFR2 in ESCC tissues was positively correlated with progression and poor prognosis of ESCC patients. Lymph node involvement and invasion depth can be treated as independent prognostic factors.