Objective To detect the expressions of interleukin-6 (IL-6) / signal transducer and activator 3 (STAT3) pathway relatedproteins in esophageal carcinoma, and to analyze their relationships with clinical stage and differentiation degrees.Methods A total of 109 patients with esophageal cancer admitted to the Third Hospital of Mianyang (Sichuan Mental Health Center) from October 2018 toJuly 2020 were selected. All patients underwent resection or biopsy, and cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues were preserved.The expressions of IL-6, STAT3, B-cell lymphoma related death promoter (Bcl-xl) and Cyclin D1 (CyclinD1) were detected by immuno.histochemistry, which were compared between the cancer tissues and the adjacent normal tissues. The expressions of the above proteinsin patients with different clinicopathological features were compared. Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the relation.ships between the expressions of these proteins and clinical stages, differentiation degrees.Results The positive expression rates of IL-6, STAT3, phosphorylation signal transducer and activator 3 (p-STAT3), Bcl-xl and CyclinD1 in cancer tissues were 89.91%, 78.90%,84.40%, 76.15%, 71.56%, which were higher than those of 11.01%, 25.69%, 28.44%, 44.95%, 42.20% in adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.05). The positive expression rates of IL-6, STAT3, p-STAT3, Bcl-xl and CyclinD1 proteins in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, maximum tumor diameter≥5cm, lymph node metastasis, undifferentiated / poorly differentiated patients were higher than those in stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, maximum tumor di. ameter < 5cm, no lymph node metastasis, and moderately / highly differentiated patients (P < 0.05). The expressions of IL-6, STAT3, p-STAT3, Bcl-xl and CyclinD1 were positively correlated with clinical stage (r = 0.81, 0.83, 0.79, 0.72, 0.71, P=0.010, 0.007, 0.005, 0.018, 0.023), and negatively correlated with differentiation degrees (r =.0.81,.0.79,.0.71,.0.70,P = 0.011, 0.019, 0.023, 0.038, 0.040).Conclusion The positive expression rates of IL-6, STAT3, p-STAT3, Bcl-xl, CyclinD1 proteins in esophageal carcinoma tis.sues are high, and they are positively correlated with clinical stage, and negatively correlated with differentiation degrees |