Expression of leptin and leptin receptors in colorectal cancer—an immunohistochemical study

Saad M Al-Shibli,Norra Harun,Shaikh Mizan,Mohd Hanif B Mohd Kasmuri,Abdelkader E Ashour

doi:10.7717/peerj.7624

Saad M Al-Shibli, Norra Harun + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7624

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Abstract

Obesity is demonstrated to be a risk factor in the development of cancers of various organs, such as colon, prostate, pancreas and so on. Leptine (LEP) is the most renowned of the adipokines. As a hormone, it mediates its effect through leptin receptor (LEPR), which is widely expressed in various tissues including colon mucosa. In this study, we have investigated the degree of expression of LEP and LEPR in colorectal cancer (CRC). We collected 44 surgically resected colon cancer tissues along with normal adjacent colon tissue (NACT) from a sample of CRC patients from the Malaysian population and looked for leptin and leptin receptors using immunohistochemistry (IHC). All the samples showed low presence of both LEP and LEPR in NACT, while both LEP and LEPR were present at high intensity in the cancerous tissues with 100% and 97.7% prevalence, respectively. Both were sparsed in the cytoplasm and were concentrated beneath the cell membrane. However, we did not find any significant correlation between their expression and pathological parameters like grade, tumor size, and lymph node involvement. Our study further emphasizes the possible causal role of LEP and LEPR with CRC, and also the prospect of using LEPR as a possible therapeutic target.

Highlights

Adiposity is considered a major health problem of pandemic dimension and involves both developed and developing countries (WHO, 2016; Popkin, Adair & Ng, 2012; Misra & Khurana, 2011)
We report an investigation of the degree of expression/presence of both LEP and leptin receptor (LEPR) using immunohistochemistry in colorectal mucosa in surgically resected colorectal cancer (CRC) specimens from a sample of the Malaysian population
Given the already established role of LEP/LEPR system in growth promotion, it may be assumed to be causally related to carcinogenesis, where its growth effect may go out of control and result in tumorous growths or its hyperactivity may help the tumor to grow faster

Summary

Introduction

Adiposity is considered a major health problem of pandemic dimension and involves both developed and developing countries (WHO, 2016; Popkin, Adair & Ng, 2012; Misra & Khurana, 2011). Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide (Yu et al, 2014). Expression of leptin and leptin receptors in colorectal cancer—an immunohistochemical study. The two are associated with a sedentary lifestyle, high-energy diets, and limited consumption of vegetables, fruits, and fibers (Robsahm et al, 2013; Harriss et al, 2009; Potter, 1999). The relationship between the two, if any, needs to be studied through deeper investigations

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