BACKGROUND: The esophageal adenocarcinoma shows an increasing frequence in the last decades, specially in the developed countries. The Barrett´s esophagus is accepted as the major premalignant lesion and the metaplasia-dysplasia-adenocarcinoma sequence presents a lot of genetic changes since its early events. The alterations in p16INK4a are frequent in Barrett´s esophagus and esophageal carcinoma. AIM: To verify the prevalence of the immunohistochemical expression of the p16INK4a protein in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. METHODS: The study population consisted of 37 patients with resected esophageal adenocarcinoma. The p16INK4a protein expression was determined by immunohistochemistry using primary antibody p16INK4aAb-7, clone 16P07 NeoMarkers and assessed according to the Immunoreactive scoring system (IRS). RESULTS: Of 37 analyzed patients, the most were male (86,5%) and the advanced disease was predominant (stages III and IV = 67,5%). In 12 (32,4%) the immunohistochemistry was positive for p16INK4a.There was no significative relation between the protein expression and the degrees of histological differentiation of the biopsies and surgical especimens (p=0,81) neither with the staging (p=0,485). CONCLUSION: The lost of the immunohistochemical expression of the p16INK4a protein in this study suggests that p16 is enroled in the carcinogenesis of the adenocarcinoma of esophagus.
Esophagus; Esophageal neoplasm; Genes, p16
