Objective: To investigate the expressions of let-7a and IL-6 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues and to analyze their correlations.
Methods: The expression of let-7a in tumor tissues and matched adjacent non-tumor tissues of 40 ESCC patients was detected by stem-loop RT-PCR, and the expression of IL-6 was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemical staining (SP method), respectively.
Results: Let-7a was underexpressed in ESCC tissues compared with matched non-tumor tissues (P<0.01); IL-6 mRNA was overexpressed in ESCC tissues compared with matched non-tumor tissues (P<0.01); the positive rate of IL-6 protein in ESCC tissues was significantly higher than that in non-tumor tissues (P<0.01). There was a negative relationship between the level of let-7a and IL-6 mRNA (r=-0.974; P<0.01), and the level of let-7a in IL-6 positive expression group was lower than that in IL-6 negative expression group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Let-7a is down-regulated and IL-6 is overexpressed in ESCC patients, suggesting that there is a significantly negative correlation between them.