Abstract
The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of leptin on the progression of colorectal carcinoma to metastatic disease by analyzing the serum leptin concentration and Ob-R gene expression in colon cancer tissues. Tissue samples were obtained from 31 patients who underwent surgical resection for colon (18 cases) and metastatic colon (13 cases) cancer. Serum leptin concentration was determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Ob-R mRNA expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for both groups. ELISA data were analyzed by the Student t-test and RT-PCR data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U-test. RT-PCR results demonstrated that mRNA expression of Ob-R in human metastatic colorectal cancer was higher than in local colorectal cancer tissues. On the other hand, mean serum leptin concentration was significantly higher in local colorectal cancer patients compared to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The results of the present study suggest a role for leptin in the progression of colon cancer to metastatic disease without weight loss. In other words, significantly increased Ob-R mRNA expression and decreased serum leptin concentration in patients with metastatic colon cancer indicate that sensitization to leptin activity may be a major indicator of metastasis to the colon tissue and the determination of leptin concentration and leptin gene expression may be used to aid the diagnosis.
Highlights
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a commonly diagnosed cancer type
The mean serum leptin concentration was significantly higher in CRC patients compared to Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients (P = 0.024)
The present study is the first to demonstrate that mRNA expression of Ob-R in human mCRC tissues is higher than that of CRC tissues
Summary
Adipose tissue dysfunction is likely to play a role in the growth of CRC [1]. A protein hormone, promotes proliferation and differentiation of various cell types and is closely related to the development of cancer. Adipose tissue leptin mRNA and serum leptin concentration directly correlate with the amount of body fat, and there are many lines of evidence indicating that leptin is a signaling factor for the regulation of body weight [3]. Several in vitro studies have reported that leptin can act as a growth factor promoting the proliferation of cells and angiogenesis, and has antiapoptotic tumorigenic effects on various cancer cell lines [1,3,4,5,6,7]
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