Expression of centrosome-associated kinase Aurora-A, mt-P53, and c-myc in colorectal cancer and its significance / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the expression levels of centrosome-associated kinase Aurora-A, mutant type P53 (mt-P53), and c-myc in colorectal cancer. This study was also conducted to investigate the mutual relationship and functions of these factors in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Methods:We examined the pathological specimens obtained from colorectal cancer, pericancerous tissues, and normal colorectal tissues by tissue microarray technique and immunohistochemistry (SP method) to determine the expression levels of Aurora-A, mt-P53, and c-myc proteins. The clinicopathological parameters were then analyzed. Re-sults The positive rates of Aurora-A expression in normal colorectal tissues, pericancerous tissues, and colorectal cancer were 0%, 35%, and 69%respectively;by comparison, the positive rates of mt-P53 were 0%, 20%, and 57%, respectively. For c-myc, the positive rates were 0, 37%, and 76%, respectively. The expression levels of Aurora-A, mt-P53, and c-myc were significantly higher in tumor tis-sues than in normal colorectal tissues and pericancerous tissues (P<0.01). Aurora-A overexpression was related to the depth of invasion (P<0.05). Mt-P53 and c-myc overexpression was related to the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and Dukes' classification (P<0.05). A strong positive correlation was observed between the expressions of Aurora-A, mt-P53, and c-myc in colorectal cancer (r=0.362, P<0.01; r=0.487, P<0.01). A strong positive correlation was also observed between the expressions of mt-P53 and c-myc in colorectal cancer (r=0.242, P<0.01). Conclusion:The overexpression of Aurora-A and c-myc and the mutation of P53 were important in tumorigenesis, tumor invasion, and metastasis of colorectal cancer. Thus, the co-detection of Aurora-A, mt-P53, and c-myc may be useful for the early diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer.