Tianjin Medical Journal ›› 2026, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (6): 623-626.doi: 10.11958/20253552

• Clinical Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The relationship between serum TM4SF1, KLF5 and SOX3 levels with prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer

ZHANG Fuyun(), JIANG Longchao, YANG Xueyan   

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Luzhou People's Hospital, Luzhou 646000, China
  • Received:2025-12-09 Revised:2026-02-03 Published:2026-06-15 Online:2026-06-15

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum levels of transmembrane 4 L six family member 1 (TM4SF1), Kruppel-like factor 5 (KLF5), SRY-box transcription factor 3 (SOX3) and prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer (EC). Methods A total of 120 patients with EC were enrolled as the observation group, and they were divided into the early group (73 cases) and the middle group (47 cases) according to the degree of disease. Patients were also divided into the good prognosis group (77 cases) and the poor prognosis group (43 cases) according to the prognosis of 1 year after operation. Another 120 healthy subjects who underwent physical examination in the same period were selected as the control group. Serum levels of TM4SF1, KLF5 and SOX3 were detected by ELISA. The prognostic factors and the evaluation value of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were analyzed. Results Serum levels of the three indicators were significantly higher in the observation group than those in the control group (P<0.05). The levels in the middle-stage group were higher than those in the early-stage group (P<0.05). The proportion of lymph node metastasis and serum levels of the three indicators were significantly higher in the poor prognosis group than those in the favorable prognosis group (all P<0.05). The three indicators and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors for EC (P<0.05). The AUC of the combined detection of the three indicators for predicting the prognosis of EC was 0.963 (95%CI:0.912-0.989), which was superior to that of single detection (Z combination-TM4SF1=3.229, Z combination-KLF5=3.122, Z combination-SOX3=2.696, all P<0.01). Conclusion Serum levels of TM4SF1, KLF5 and SOX3 are elevated in EC patients, which are associated with poor prognosis. Combined detection of the three indicators can improve the efficacy of prognostic evaluation in EC patients.

Key words: esophageal neoplasms, prognosis, tetraspanins, Kruppel-like transcription factors, SOX transcription factors

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