Aberrant overexpression of EZH2 and H3K27me3 serves as poor prognostic biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.

It has been reported that the trimethylation of histone 3 on lysine 27 (H3K27me3) is required for enhancer of zeste homology 2 (EZH2)-mediated repression of various genes essential for tumorigenesis and tumor development. Here, we reported the expression of EZH2 and H3K27me3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) specimens was higher than the pericarcinoma esophageal specimens. Their expression was positively associated with the poor prognosis of ESCC patients. EZH2 expression, histological grade and distant lymph node metastasis were all independent factors for poor prognosis of ESCC. In addition, enforced expression of EZH2 in esophageal cancer-derived cells could increase the overall H3K27me3 level. Our results suggested the expression of EZH2 and H3K27me3 could serve as biomarkers in the prediction of ESCC patients' survival and ESCC metastasis.