Complement regulatory proteins in normal human esophagus and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Altered expression of three complement regulatory proteins, decay-accelerating factor (CD55), membrane cofactor protein (CD46) and homologous restriction factor 20 (CD59) has been identified in human gastrointestinal malignancies, but their expression in esophageal cancer has not been described. Therefore the purpose of the present paper was to study the distribution of these proteins in human normal and malignant esophageal mucosa. Methods and results: In the normal esophageal mucosa, CD55 predominantly stained on the cell membrane of squamous epithelium in the superficial and prickle cell layers, whereas CD46 most intensely stained on the cell membrane in the basal and parabasal cell layers. In contrast to this reciprocal expression of CD55 and CD46, CD59 was broadly distributed on the cell membrane in all layers. In the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, CD55 staining was intense in the stroma but was negligible in the cancer cells. In contrast, CD46 and CD59 stained almost uniformly on the tumor cell membrane. There was a significant difference in the intensity of the staining of CD55 and CD46 among cells in various layers of normal esophageal mucosa and esophageal carcinoma cells, but not in the staining of CD59. Similar expression patterns of the three complement regulatory proteins in carcinoma cells and in normal epithelium in the basal and parabasal cell layers were observed. Conclusions: These observations on the expression of the three complement regulatory proteins would help understanding of the host immune responses involving the complement system against esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.