Published in:
01-09-2009 | Translational Research and Biomarkers
Comprehensive Analysis of the Clinical Significance of Inducing Pluripotent Stemness-Related Gene Expression in Colorectal Cancer Cells
Authors:
Yasumitsu Saiki, MD, Shinya Ishimaru, MD, PhD, Koshi Mimori, MD, PhD, Yasushi Takatsuno, MD, Makoto Nagahara, MD, Hideshi Ishii, MD, PhD, Kazutaka Yamada, MD, Masaki Mori, MD, PhD, FACS
Published in:
Annals of Surgical Oncology
|
Issue 9/2009
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Abstract
Background
We previously determined that cancer stem-like cells may influence the susceptibility of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells to chemotherapeutic agents. Although Takahashi and Park identified a set of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS)-related genes required for normal stem cell maintenance, the precise role of iPS-related gene expression in CRC pathogenesis remains to be determined. The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinical relevance of “stemness”-regulating gene expression in CRC cases.
Materials and methods
Cancer cells were excised from tissues of 79 CRC cases by laser microdissection (LMD), and quantitative RT-PCR was used to evaluate expression levels of the iPS-related genes c-MYC, SOX2, OCT3/4, LIN28, KLF4, and NANOG, and to identify any associations between their expression and clinicopathological CRC progression.
Results
We found that LIN28 expression is significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.018) and Dukes stage (p = 0.0319). SOX2expression is also correlated with lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, the ten cases with Dukes D disease expressed significantly higher levels of SOX2transcript than the other 69 cases (p = 0.0136). In contrast, KLF4 expression was inversely related to Dukes stage. Expression of c-MYC, OCT3/4, and NANOG did not appear to have clinical relevance in CRC cases.
Conclusion
The present analysis strongly suggests that altered expression of several iPS-related genes plays a role in CRC pathogenesis.