Survival Stratification Panel of Colorectal Carcinoma with Combined Expression of Carcinoembryonic Antigen, Matrix Metalloproteinases-2, and p27^kip1

The prognosis varies greatly in colorectal carcinoma patients, even in the same stage. We examined the association between the expression of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, p27^kip1, and clinicopathologic features in patients with colorectal carcinoma to identify a possible panel of tumor markers in predicting prognosis of colorectal carcinoma.

The expressions of three individual markers in 127 colorectal carcinoma cases were analyzed by immunohistochemistry method. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to analyze the expression with the disease-free survival time in colorectal carcinoma.

High expression of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, and low expression of p27^kip1 were related to poor prognosis in univariate analysis (P--.0002; P-lt;-.0001; P--.0008). The expression of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, p27^kip1, and tumor differentiation were independent prognostic factors for disease-free survival by Cox regression analysis. The coexpression panel of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, and p27^kip had significant prognostic value in all patients (P_AB--.0103; P_BC--.0068; P_CD--.0117). Multivariate analysis with Cox regression reveals that coexpression of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, and p27^kip1 were independent prognostic factors as tumor differentiation in colorectal carcinoma. In different stages, coexpression tumor markers functioned in Stages II and III but not in the 19 cases of Stage I. The reason might be the number of patients was too small.

The results of this study provided further evidence that the combination of tumor markers of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, and p27^kip1 was more informative than any single tumor marker alone for the disease-free survival stratification of colorectal carcinoma. Coexpression of matrix metalloproteinases-2, carcinoembryonic antigen, and p27^kip1 might be a useful survival stratification panel for clinical management.