RESUMEN
Objective: To explore the roles of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and the activated mTOR (phosphorylated mTOR, p-mTOR) in the development and progression of colorectal cancer, and to discuss the clinical significance. Methods: The expression of mTOR and p-mTOR in 185 coLorectal cancer specimens and the corresponding adjacent tissues were evaluated by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry,and the relationship between the expression and the age, sex, invasion depth( T stage) ,lymph metastasis, TNM stage and differentiation degree was analyzed. Results1 Diffused expression of mTOR and hardly any expression of p-mTOR were found in the adjacent tissues. The expression of mTOR and p-mTOR was obviously stronger in the colorectal cancer tissues compared with that in the adjacent tissues. The over-expression rates of mTOR and p-mTOR in colorectal cancer were 45. 9% and 42. 2%, respectively. There was no significant correlation of mTOR and p-mTOR over-expression with age, sex( P> 0. 05); the over-expression of mTOR was correlated with the differentiation degree (P0. 05). The correlation of p-mTOR over-expression with the invasion depth (T stage) ,lymph metastasis and TNM stage was significant (P0. 05). Conclusion:Over-expression of p-mTOR is closely associated with the malignant phenotype of colorectal cancer. It is also indicated that p-mTOR may be involved in the development and progression of colorectal cancer.