Analysis of Wnt and β-catenin Expression in Advanced Colorectal Cancer - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2015 Aug;35(8):4403-10.

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Analysis of Wnt and β-catenin Expression in Advanced Colorectal Cancer

Naohiro Yoshida et al. Anticancer Res. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in colorectal cancer (CRC). Wnt has many sub-types and it is uncertain which of them affect progression of CRC.

Patients and methods: We analysed 201 patients who underwent curative surgery for CRC. We investigated the relationship between the expression of Wnt and β-catenin proteins and prognosis using immunohistochemistry.

Results: The high expression of Wnt1 correlated with high expression of nuclear and cytoplasmic β-catenin (p=0.0004, p=0.02). The high expression of Wnt5a also correlated with high expression of membrane β-catenin (p=0.03). In multivariate analysis, lymph node metastasis (p=0.046) and high expression of nuclear β-catenin (p=0.04) were independent prognostic factors for survival.

Conclusion: The expression of nuclear β-catenin is a useful predictive marker in CRC. It is suggested that Wnt1 may be the main activator of the β-catenin signaling pathway and that Wnt5a may stabilize adherens junctions, thereby suppressing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Keywords: Wnt; colorectal cancer; β-catenin.

Copyright© 2015 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.

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