Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes. Esophageal tumors usually lead to dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), pain and other symptoms, and are diagnosed with biopsy. Small and localized tumors are treated with surgery, and advanced tumors are treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or combinations. Prognosis depends on the extent of the disease and other medical problems, but is fairly poor.

There are two main types of esophageal cancer: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Since the entire esophagus is normally lined with squamous cells, squamous cell carcinoma can occur anywhere along the length of the esophagus. At one time, squamous cell carcinoma was by far the more common of the two cancer types in the United States and was responsible for almost 90% of all esophageal cancers. Recently, this has changed. Now, squamous cell cancers make up less than 50% of esophageal cancers.

ICTP (Serum cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of Type I collagen)

• serum ICTP concentrations might be a novel prognostic tumor marker for assessing the progression of esophageal SCC. PMID: 11920462

MCM2

• may be a more reliable and useful marker than Ki-67 in assessing the growth of normal and tumor cells and in evaluating tumor aggressiveness and prognostic value in patients with esophageal SCC. PMID: 12949987

MEMD/ALCAM

• may serve as a potential marker for early diagnosis, tumor invasion and nodal metastasis in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). PMID: 16024937

p53

• Surveillance of serum p53-Abs is superior to the three tumor markers for detecting superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SESCC). PMID: 11042560

S-MK (serum midkine)

• may be useful as a tumor marker to detect superficial esophageal squamous cell cancer (SESCC). PMID: 12579281

Survivin

• an accurate prognostic marker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma but not adenocarcinoma. PMID: 16671090

Other ESCC Markers

• tumor budding may be a pathological marker suggesting high malignancy potential and decreased postoperative survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. PMID: 15569373