Expression of H-cadherin in colon cancer and its prognostic significance

Abstract

Objective To investigate relationship of H-cadherin expression with the prognosis of colorectal cancer. Methods Expression of H-cadherin in colon cancer tissues and adjacent normal colon tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Difference of variables was analyzed by Chi square test. Survival curve was plotted by Kaplan-Meier method with Log-rank test. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate the independent prognostic factors. Results Expression of H-cadherin was decreased in colon cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. H-cadherin expression level in cancer tissues did not correlate with gender, age, tumor size and site. H-cadherin expression statistically significantly correlated with TNM stage (P=0.003), tumor differentiation (P=0.000) and lymph nodal metastasis (P=0.013). Cox regression analysis indicated that TNM stage [hazard ratio (HR)=3.624, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.875-9.227, P=0.009], tumor differentiation (HR: 1.677, 95%CI: 0.855-3.964, P=0.031), lymph nodal metastasis (HR: 6.680, 95%CI: 3.336-12.028, P=0.003) and H-cadherin expression (HR: 2.927, 95%CI: 0.998-8.499, P=0.012) were the independent prognostic factors of colon cancer patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that, compared with patients with relative higher H-cadherin expression, patients with relative lower H-cadherin expression had poorer overall survival (P=0.000). Conclusion H-cadherin is an independent prognostic factor of colon cancer patients. Key words: H-cadherin; Colon cancer; Prognosis; Metastasis