Abstract:  Objective  To investigate the expression of acetyltransferase 2A (KAT2A) and survivin protein acetylation levels in esophageal cancer tissue, and to analyze the correlation and clinical significance during the onset of esophageal cancer. Methods  Seventy cases of esophageal squamous carcinoma tissues and adjacent cancer tissues were collected. The survivin and KAT2A mRNA expression was determined by reverse transcription and real-time PCR(qRT-PCR), the expression levels of survivin and KAT2A protein were detected by Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Fluorescence immunohistochemistry (IF) verified the location and expression of survivin and KAT2A in cancerous tissues.The survivin protein acetylation was detected by co-immunoprecipitation. The correlation between survivin protein acetylation and KAT2A, and the relationship between them and the clinicopathological characteristics of esophageal cancer were analyzed. KAT2A RNA interference sequences was constructed, then transfected into EC109 cells using liposome-mediated methods. qRT-PCR and Westrern blotting were used to detect the expression level of KAT2A mRNA and protein in esophageal cancer EC109 cells transfected with siRNA-KAT2A. The acetylation level of survivin protein was detected by co-immunoprecipitation. Results  The relative expression of survivin and KAT2A mRNA was higher in esophageal cancer tissues than that in adjacent cancer tissues（P＜0.05）. Survivin and KAT2A protein were highly expressed in esophageal cancer tissues, whereas low expressed in adjacent cancer tissues. The survivin protein was acetylated in esophageal cancer tissues. Immunofluorescence confirmed that survivin and KAT2A protein both show a high expression state in cancer tissues, which are mainly expressed in the cytoplasm, partially expressed in the nucleus, and the acetylation rate was significantly higher than that in adjacent cancer tissues（P＜0.05）. Survivin acetylation and KAT2A were related in esophageal cancer tissues, and it was positive correlation（r=0.517, P＜0.05）. Survivin protein acetylation and KAT2A are closely related to tumor TNM staging, differentiation grade and lymph node metastasis（P＜0.05）. The result of vitro experiments showed that there was no change in survivin mRNA and protein expression after downregulation of KAT2A by RNA interference（P＞0.05）, but the acetylation level of survivin protein was significantly reduced（P＜0.05）. Conclusion  Acetyltransferase KAT2A is involved in the survivin acetylation modification during the esophageal lesion. High expression of KAT2A may be an important molecular event of survivin acetylation modification and has potential value in the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Key words:  , Esophageal cancer">Esophageal cancer；">；Acetyltransferase">Acetyltransferase；">；KAT2A">KAT2A；">；Survivin">Survivin；">；Acetylation modification')">">Acetylation modification