Lumican expression and its relationship with biological behavior and prognosis in colorectal cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of Lumican in human colorectal cancer tissues and normal colorectal tissues, and its relationship with biological behavior and survival rate. Methods By using immunohistochemistry, we studied the Lumican expression patterns in 205 cases of colorectal cancers with rarious clinico-pathologic characteristics, and 50 normal colorectal tissues specimens. The relationship of Lumican expression with the biological behavior and survival of patients was evaluated. Results The expression rate of Lumican in normal colorectal tissues was 12.0%(6/50), and their expression was weaker expression. In sharp contrast, Lumican expression rate in colorectal cancer lesions was 75.61%(155/205). Lumican protein expression was closely related to the location of tumor, the depth of tumor invasion and histological types(x2 =16. 201, P = 0. 013;x2 = 9. 506, P = 0. 029), but not related to the number of metastatic lymph nodes and stage (x2 = 15. 457, P = 0. 079;x2 = 1. 887,P = 0. 596). The medium survival time in patients who had a tumor with negative, weak, postive and strong Lumican expression was 64.9、56.6、41.5 and 36.4 months, respectively (x2 =35. 066,P =0.000). Conclusion Normal and malignant colorectal tissues have unique Lumican expression patterns.Lumican might be served as an independent prognostic marker. Key words: Lumican; Colorectal cancer; Prognosis