Premalignant lesions of the gastrointestinal tract are a group of disorders which act as the harbinger of malignant tumors. They are the ground-zero of neoplastic transformation, and their identification and management offer patients the best opportunity of blocking the progress of cancer. However, diagnoses of some of these conditions are hard to make, and their clinical importance is difficult to assess. Recent reports indicated that several claudin proteins have altered expressions in many cancers, including esophageal, gastric, colon, liver, and pancreatic cancers. The early identification of the aberrant expression of these proteins could lead to the early diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal tumors. Specifically, claudins -1, -2, -3, -4, and -18 are frequently overexpressed in gastrointestinal preneoplastic lesions. These altered expressions have shown clinical value in several tumors, providing diagnostic and prognostic information. In this article, we review the literature on the aberrant expression of claudins in preneoplastic lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. Additionally, we summarize their diagnostic and prognostic implications.
胃肠道癌前病变是一组可作为恶性肿瘤前兆的疾病状态，它们是肿瘤性转化的起始点，对这些病变的识别和处理为患者提供了阻断癌症进展的最佳机会。然而，其中部分病变的诊断较为困难，其临床意义亦难以评估。近期研究表明，多种紧密连接蛋白在包括食管癌、胃癌、结肠癌、肝癌和胰腺癌在内的多种恶性肿瘤中表达异常。这些蛋白异常表达的早期识别可能促进胃肠道肿瘤的早期诊断和治疗。具体而言，claudin-1、-2、-3、-4和-18在胃肠道癌前病变中常出现过表达现象。这些表达改变已在多种肿瘤中显示出临床价值，为诊断和预后评估提供了重要信息。本文综述了关于claudin蛋白在胃肠道癌前病变中异常表达的相关文献，并总结了其在诊断和预后方面的临床意义。
Expression of Claudins in Preneoplastic Conditions of the Gastrointestinal Tract: A Review
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家