STMN1, a prognostic predictor of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, is a marker of the activation of the PI3K pathway
Authors: Shiting Huang
Zhou Wang
Wenpeng Jiang
Liang Song
Journal: Oncology Reports (2017)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; STMN1; PTEN; lymphatic metastatic recurrence; tumor tissues
Affiliations: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China, Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China

Abstract:  The esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) subtype with STMN1 overexpression has a high likelihood of lymphatic metastatic recurrence. However, the underlying mechanism remains to be further elucidated. We assessed the expression level of STMN1 and PTEN in 96 pN0 ESCC patient tissues using immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Then, the association between STMN1 overexpression and postoperative lymphatic metastatic recurrence was evaluated. In addition, the relationship between STMN1 and PTEN was also assessed. The results showed that STMN1 expression was significantly higher in tumor tissues (P=0.013). STMN1 overexpression was related to tumor length (P=0.003) and depth of invasion (P=0.019). In addition, STMN1 overexpression was significantly associated with postoperative lymphatic metastatic recurrence in pN0 ESCC patients. Patients with STMN1-overexpressing tumors had a higher 3‚Äëyear lymphatic metastatic recurrence rate (P=0.024). Furthermore, in laboratory experiments, STMN1 expression was stably silenced using lentiviral vector delivery of shRNA in Eca109 and EC9706 cell lines to assess the functional effect of STMN1 in vitro. The results indicated that stable silencing of STMN1 expression significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Moreover, we inactivated the PI3K pathway in ESCC cell lines with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and then detected STMN1 expression by western blot analysis. STMN1 levels were robustly reduced consistent with the downregulation of p‚ÄëAkt (S473) by PI3K pathway inhibition. STMN1 can act as a marker to quantitatively measure the activation of the PI3K pathway and stratify patients accordingly. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 10A. * Red and blue boxes: Three of the eight panels appear to show areas of overlap, suggesting these were all the same specimen.  , 
 Corrigendum, November 2020, found here: https: www.spandidos-publications.com 10.3892 or.2020.7855  *Following the publication of the above article, an interested reader drew to the authorsu2019 attention that Fig. 10A, showing the migration and invasion capabilities of Eca109 and EC9706 cells transfected with STMN1 or normal control shRNA, contained three panels with apparently overlapping data, such that the images were likely to have been derived from the same original source. The authors examined their original data and realized that errors had been made in the compilation of the panels shown in this Figure.* *The authors were unable to guarantee the accuracy of the images obtained from their previous experiments, so these migration and invasion assay experiments were repeated, and the results obtained were found to be consistent with those presented in the original figure. The revised version of Fig. 10 is shown on the next page. The authors have confirmed that the errors associated with the original figure did not have any significant impact on either the results or the conclusions reported in this study, and are grateful to the Editor of Oncology Reports for allowing them the opportunity to publish this Corrigendum. Furthermore, they apologize to the readership of the Journal for any inconvenience caused.* Can the authors please clarify why they did not upload the original images here? It was only three years after the publication, so one would hope the original photos should still be available. I am not sure why the experiments were repeated. ,