Expression of cytokeratin-mRNAs in XXXX and balloon-cell formation of human oesophageal epithelium.

@entity4166 @entity10585 @entity1859 @entity957 @entity1373 @entity189 @entity7435 @entity8844 @entity2873 @entity218 @entity6881 @entity14959 @entity7434
Using @entity1859 -labelled cRNA probes, relationships between morphological characteristics and in situ hybridization for cytokeratin (CK)-mRNAs were analysed in cases of @entity957 of variable differentiation and in balloon-cell formation within the oesophageal mucosa. The present results were correlated to our previous findings on normal oesophageal epithelium. Our results from in situ hybridization study on oesophageal @entity957 provide strong evidence that changes in CK expression occur with differences in malignant potential. Cells of poorly differentiated @entity189 lose an ability to produce CK-mRNAs characteristic of their normal progenitor cells. Moderately differentiated and, still more pronounced, well differentiated @entity189 cells retain an ability to produce CKs characteristic of their tissue of origin (CK 6, @entity6881 , @entity8844 and @entity4166 ). Furthermore, well differentiated @entity189 cells may also gain an ability to synthesize new types of CKs that are not characteristic of the normal oesophageal epithelium ( @entity10585 and @entity2873 characteristic of most simple epithelia, and @entity7434 characteristic of keratinizing epithelia). Moreover, some oesophageal CK-genes are expressed in an obviously higher amount (CK 6, @entity6881 , and @entity4166 ), but the expression of genes coding for the oesophageal differentiation-related CKs ( @entity14959 and @entity7435 ) is obviously decreased or apparently lost. At the interface zone, observed in sections of well differentiated @entity189 , @entity10585 and @entity2873 mRNA were expressed in intermediate cell layers, and the centrally located cell layers were found positive for @entity7434 mRNA. These findings largely extend the existing results from immunoblotting and immunohistochemical studies. The reduced or non-detectable expression of oesophageal differentiation-related CK-mRNAs ( @entity218 ) on the appearance of balloon cells, suggests molecular changes that may be a marker for pathological progression. In addition, the abundant expression of CK 6 and @entity6881 mRNA within areas of balloon-cell formation showing @entity1373 , and the higher expression of @entity4166 in comparison with normal epithelium, points rather to de-differentiation than to normal vertical differentiation of the oesophageal epithelium. Whether CK-mRNAs can be used as biomarkers for evaluation of oesophageal pathologies remains to be further elucidated.
