Expression and clinical significance of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

<b>Objective</b> To investigate the expression of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) and transforming growth factor β1(TGFβ1) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues and their possible mechanisms of action in ESCC. <b>Methods</b> A total of 48 ESCC patients who underwent radical resection of esophageal cancer in Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital from October 2020 to October 2021 were selected as the study subjects, and the expressions of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 were detected and compared by immunohistochemistry in the 48 cancer tissues and 35 paired adjacent tissues specimens (13 adjacent tissue specimens with cancer cell invasion were excluded), and the effects of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 on the clinicopathological parameters of ESCC and their relationship with prognosis were analyzed. <b>Results</b> The positive expression rates of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 in ESCC tissues were higher than those in adjacent tissues (66.67%vs 25.71%,χ2 =13.580,P ＜0.01; 72.92%vs 40.00%,χ2 =9.069,P ＜0.01). The 2-year cumulative survival rates of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 negative expression groups were higher than those of positive expression groups, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant ( P ＜0.05). Cox regression analysis showed that the positive expressions of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 significantly affected the postoperative survival of ESCC patients ( P ＜0.05). <b>Conclusion</b> The increased expressions of IGFBP7 and TGFβ1 in ESCC tissues are related to clinicopathological parameters and prognosis, which are expected to be biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC.