Expression Status of PIWIL1 as a Prognostic Marker of Colorectal Cancer.

Yan-Hong Ding,Dong-Hai Li,Rui Sun,Chun-Li Gao,Bo-Jun Li

doi:10.1155/2017/1204937

Abstract

The PIWI-like protein 1 (PIWIL1) plays a crucial role in stem cell proliferation, embryogenesis, growth, and development, as well as differentiation and maturation in multiple organisms. The relationships between PIWIL1 expression and clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients were analyzed by us. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox's proportional hazards model. The high expression rate of PIWIL1 in the cancer tissue was obviously higher than that in the corresponding adjacent tissue. The expression of PIWIL1 was closely related to the tumor differentiation degree, infiltration depth, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, and TNM stage. The Kaplan-Meier survival model suggested that the survival time of CRC patients in the high PIWIL1 expression group was notably lower than that in the low PIWIL1 expression group. High PIWIL1 expression suggests a poor prognosis for CRC patients, and PIWIL1 can serve as an important molecular marker for predicting the prognosis of CRC patients.

Highlights

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the common malignancies of the gastrointestinal system
We discovered from the immunohistochemical results that PIWIL1 was mainly located in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells; a small proportion of PIWIL1 was expressed in the nucleus (Figure 1)
Similar to the above findings, our study found that high PIWIL1 expression levels were closely related to the tumor differentiation degree and lymphovascular invasion of CRC patients

Summary

Introduction

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the common malignancies of the gastrointestinal system. In 2012, the global morbidity and mortality of CRC were about 1.3606 million and 0.6939 million, respectively [1, 2]. With the emergence of the aging society and changes in the living pattern in China in the recent years, the morbidity and mortality of CRC in China have shown gradual increasing trends and rank the fifth and the third, respectively [3]. Stem cells possess highly proliferative, continuous self-renewing, and multipotential differentiation capacities [5]. These capacities of stem cells may be closely associated with the genesis, development, metastasis, and recurrence of tumors. We detected the expression of PIWIL1 in CRC and analyzed its relationship with the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with CRC

Methods

C N CN PIWIL1 GAPDH

Result

Discussion

Findings

Conclusions