Expression of Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine in the Stroma of a Colorectal Carcinoma is Associated With Patient Prognosis

PURPOSE: Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), also known as osteonectin or basement-membrane-40 (BM-40), is a member of a family of matricellular proteins, whose functions are to modulate cell-matrix interactions, growth and angiogenesis in colorectal cancer. In this study, the expression of SPARC was evaluated and its correlations with clinicopathological parameters were investigated. METHODS: The researchers analyzed the expression patterns of SPARC by using immunohistochemistry in 332 cases of colorectal cancer of tissue microarray. The clinicopathological characteristics were defined by using the TNM criteria of the Union for International Cancer Control. Clinicopathological factors such as age, sex, histologic type of the tumor, pathologic tumor stage, TNM stage, and lymphovascular invasion were evaluated according to the SPARC expression. RESULTS: The hazard ratios expressing SPARC in tumor cells, in the stroma, and in both tumor cells and the stroma were 2.10 (P = 0.036), 3.27 (P = 0.003) and 2.12 (P = 0.038), respectively. Patient survival was decreased in patient expressing SPARC in the stroma, and this result showed statistical significance (P = 0.016). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that SPARC expression in a tumor and in the stroma correlates with disease progression and may be used as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer.

Expression of Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine in the Stroma of a Colorectal Carcinoma is Associated With Patient Prognosis

PURPOSE: Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), also known as osteonectin or basement-membrane-40 (BM-40), is a member of a family of matricellular proteins, whose functions are to modulate cell-matrix interactions, growth and angiogenesis in colorectal cancer. In this study, the expression of SPARC was evaluated and its correlations with clinicopathological parameters were investigated. METHODS: The researchers analyzed the expression patterns of SPARC by using immunohistochemistry in 332 cases of colorectal cancer of tissue microarray. The clinicopathological characteristics were defined by using the TNM criteria of the Union for International Cancer Control. Clinicopathological factors such as age, sex, histologic type of the tumor, pathologic tumor stage, TNM stage, and lymphovascular invasion were evaluated according to the SPARC expression. RESULTS: The hazard ratios expressing SPARC in tumor cells, in the stroma, and in both tumor cells and the stroma were 2.10 (P = 0.036), 3.27 (P = 0.003) and 2.12 (P = 0.038), respectively. Patient survival was decreased in patient expressing SPARC in the stroma, and this result showed statistical significance (P = 0.016). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that SPARC expression in a tumor and in the stroma correlates with disease progression and may be used as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer.

An Immunohistochemical Study on the Expression of SUMO-2/3 in the Colorectal Carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of colorectal carcinomas continues to rise in Korea due to the westernized life style. However, the precise colorectal carcinogenic mechanisms remain to be elucidated. The protein products of oncogenes and cancer suppressor genes play important roles in the carcinogenesis. The effects of the proteins are influenced by post-translational modifications as phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, and ubiquitination. The aberrant sumoylation plays some roles in carcinogenesis. However, the expression pattern of small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)-2/3 in the colorectal cancer has not been reported. We assessed the expression of SUMO-2/3 and evaluated the expression pattern in colorectal cancer. METHODS: The SUMO-2/3 expression was tested in one normal colon mucosal cell line and 5 colorectal cancer cell lines by Western blot. We collected 322 cases of colorectal cancer operated from January 2000 to December 2010 at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital. We fabricated the tissue microarray and the expression of SUMO-2/3 was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The results were analyzed with clinicopathologic parameters. RESULTS: The SUMO-2/3 was not expressed in the normal colon mucosal cell line. However, it was expressed highly in all the 5 colorectal cancer cell lines as the beta-actin. The SUMO-2/3 was expressed in 68.3% of the colorectal cancers and its expression was correlated with the pathological tumor stage stage (odds ratio, 2.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.10 to 7.55; P=0.031). CONCLUSION: The SUMO-2/3 plays some roles in carcinogenesis and progression of the colorectal cancer.