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High expression and role of tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2) in cancer progression and prognosis has been reported in several types of tumors. However, its role in esophageal carcinoma (EC) remains unknown. In the present study, TNFR2 expression in middle and lower thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) was detected using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Chi‑square test revealed that TNFR2 was positively correlated with invasion depth, advanced clinical stage and low differentiation degree. Furthermore, survival analysis revealed that TNFR2 was positively correlated with poor overall survival (OS). Moreover, univariate COX regression analysis revealed that clinical stage, lymph node involvement, and invasion depth can affect the OS of ESCC patients, while multivariate COX regression analysis revealed that lymph node involvement and invasion depth can affect the OS of ESCC patients. In middle thoracic ESCC patients, TNFR2 was positively correlated with invasion depth, advanced clinical stage and poor OS. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate COX regression analysis both revealed that clinical stage, lymph node involvement, and invasion depth can affect OS. In lower thoracic ESCC patients, TNFR2 was positively correlated with low differentiation degree. Furthermore, the positive correlation of TNFR2 with poor OS did not reach statistical significance. In addition, univariate COX regression analysis revealed that only lymph node involvement could affect OS. All the results suggest that TNFR2 can play an important role in the progression and poor prognosis of ESCC patients. Moreover, the role of TNFR2 in the prognosis of middle thoracic ESCC patients was earlier and stronger than in lower thoracic ESCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transcriptional coactivator tafazzin (TAZ) serves pivotal roles in organ development, tumor initiation and tumor progression. However, to the best of our knowledge, the expression of TAZ and its clinical significance in human medulloblastoma have not been defined. The present study aimed to clarify the clinical and biological significance of TAZ expression in human medulloblastoma. Immunohistochemical staining for TAZ was performed with 72 medulloblastoma and three normal brain tissue samples. A high expression level of TAZ was detected in 65.28% of medulloblastoma tissues, whereas low expression was identified in the normal brain tissues. TAZ expression was significantly associated with medulloblastoma recurrence. However, the expression of TAZ was not associated with sex, age, tumor location, tumor maximal diameter and tumor histology. Furthermore, both the overall survival and tumor-free survival rate of patients with high levels of expression of TAZ were shorter compared with those of patients with tumors expressing low levels of TAZ. In univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, TAZ expression was identified as a significant prognostic factor for patients with medulloblastoma. Functionally, downregulation of TAZ inhibited the proliferation and tumor formation of medulloblastoma cells and the expression of cell-cycle associated proteins in Daoy cells. In conclusion, high expression of TAZ may serve as a prognostic marker for patients with medulloblastoma and TAZ may be a potential target for medulloblastoma therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]