Abstract: Objective To detect the expressions of Wnt2 and dishevelled (Dvl) protein in esophageal squamous carcinoma, and analyze their relationship with the occurrence and development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods The expression levels of Wnt2 and Dvl protein were detected by Western blot assay in 60 samples of esophageal carcinoma and adjacent non-carcinomatous esophageal tissues, and their relationship with clinical pathological features were analyzed. Results The relative expression levels of Wnt2 and Dvl protein were higher in esophageal squamous carcinoma tissue (0.512 ± 0.406, 1.218±1.082) than those of esophageal tissue adjacent to carcinoma (0.153 ± 0.189, 0.505±0.358). There were significant differences in the expression levels of Wnt2 and Dvl protein between different infiltration depth, different TNM stages, and lymph node metastasis (P＜0.01). There was a positive correlation between Wnt2 and Dvl protein in esophageal squamous carcinoma (r = 0.718, P＜0.01). Conclusion The high expression levels of Wnt2 and Dvl protein promote the development and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas collaboratively via Wnt2 signal transduction path⁃ ways.

Key words: esophageal neoplasms, carcinoma, squamous cell, Wnt2 protein, Dvl protein, blotting, Western