Prognostic Impact of Phosphorylated Discoidin Domain Receptor-1 in Esophageal Cancer

Abstract Background Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is common in East Asia and also is often deadly. We sought to determine whether measuring the discoidin domain receptor-1 (DDR1)—both total and phosphorylated proteins—could improve our ability to predict recurrence in ESCC. Materials and Methods Total DDR1 and phosphorylated DDR1 (pDDR1) were measured using semiquantitative immunohistochemistry in a cohort of 60 patients with ESCC. Association between these immunohistochemical measurements and standard clinical-pathological variables such as patient recurrence-free survival was examined using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results Six patients (10.0%) had regional recurrence and eight patients (13.3%) had distant recurrence. In univariate analysis, early disease recurrence correlated with intense staining of total DDR1 (P = 0.03) as well as intense staining of pDDR1 (P  Conclusions This study suggests that immunohistochemical measurements of both the DDR1 protein and pDDR1 can provide prognostic value in ESCC, even when other clinical and pathological factors are also being considered.