title: Prognostic significance of p27/kip1 and apoptosis in patients with colorectal carcinoma.
abstract: The protein p27/kip1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that regulates cell-cycle progression. In the present study, p27/kip1 expression as well as tumor cell proliferation and apoptosis were investigated in 80 colorectal carcinomas, using anti-p27/kip1 antibodies, in situ apoptosis detection kits and anti-PCNA antibodies. Immunohistochemical staining indicated that p27/kip1 was localized heterogeneously in the nuclei of cancer cells. The frequency of samples positive for p27/kip1 was 53.8% (43/80). There was no significant correlation between p27/kip1 status and clinicopathologic factors. Mean apoptotic index (AI) in p27/kip1-positive patients (3.22+/-1.65) was significantly higher than in p27/kip1-negative patients (2.46+/-1.44; p=0.033). No correlation was observed between p27/kip1 expression and the PCNA labeling index (PCNA-LI) (p=0.47). Overall survival was significantly longer for patients who were p27/kip1-positive (80.7%) compared to those who were negative (49.3%; p=0.0003). Univariate analysis revealed no significant differences between prognosis and AI or PCNA-LI. In multivariate analysis, p27/kip1 expression was found to be an independent prognostic marker (p=0.015). In conclusion, the present study shows that p27/kip1 is a potentially important prognostic and predictive marker for outcome in colorectal carcinoma. These results might be explained by the role of p27/kip1 in promoting apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Oita Medical University, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Hasama-machi, Oita 879-5593, Japan. tnoguc@oita-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noguchi
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeno
authors.forename: Hatsuo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchida
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases