Abstract 395: Chemokine ligand 7 expression in liver metastasis of colorectal cancer

Abstract

Abstract The main cause of death for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is the development of metastatic lesions at sites distant from the primary tumor. Therefore, it is important to find biomarkers that are related to the metastasis and to study the possible mechanism. Recent data have shown that soluble attractant molecules called chemokines support the metastasis of certain cancers to certain organs. To identify molecular regulators that are differentially expressed in liver metastasis of CRC, PCR array was performed and CCL7 showed remarkable overexpression in liver metastatic tumor tissues. To validate the result of PCR array, 30 patients with primary CRC and liver metastases were selected. Immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR analysis showed that CCL7 was expressed in normal colonic epithelium and the expression was higher in liver metastases than in primary CRC. CCR1, CCR2, and CCR3, receptors of CCL7, were not expressed in normal colonic epithelium nor colon and metastatic cancer, but expressed in normal hepatocytes and stroma by immunohistochemical staining. Real-time PCR showed that the expressions of CCR1, CCR2, and CCR3 were also higher in liver metastases than in primary CRC. There would be chemokine/chemokine receptors interactions between CCL7 and its receptors in liver, which supply the environment for metastatic colon cancer cells to survive and proliferate in liver. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 395. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-395