Overexpression of CPE-ΔN predicts poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients / 实用肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective Carboxypeptidase E ( CPE) is one of the most important carboxypeptidases in-volved in the biosynthesis of numerous peptide hormones and neurotransmitters and plays an important role in en -docrine regulation .A splice variant of CPE ( CPE-ΔN) has been detected and the mechanism of CPE -ΔN action in tumorigenesis has been studied in many different cancers .The aim of this study is to examine CPE -ΔN ex-pression in human colorectal cancer ( CRC) and to evaluate its possible application as a potential prognostic mark-er.Methods In the present study ,we have analyzed isoform expression of CPE -ΔN by qRT-PCR and West-ern blot in 219 CRC patients .Results Our results showed that CPE -ΔN was overexpressed in colorectal tumor tissue and that high CPE -ΔN mRNA expression was closely correlated with tumor differentiation ,pT classifica-tion,pN classification,tumor recurrence and lymph node metastasis .High CPE-ΔN expression was also identi-fied as an independent prognostic factor using a multivariate analysis (P=0.011).Conclusion Based on these results,we can conclude that CPE -ΔN expression might be a potential prognostic marker for CRC patients .