title: Prognostic value of somatostatin receptor subtype 2 expression in colorectal cancer.
abstract: The clinical relevance of the somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (sst2) is well defined in neuroendocrine tumors but it is still a matter of debate whether its expression may have a role also in other tumors not arising from the neuroectoderm. We investigated the prognostic value of the expression levels of sst2 mRNA in a consistent group of patients affected by colorectal cancer. Survival analysis of cancer-related death showed that patients with a high sst2 mRNA expression had an unfavourable outcome (p=0.037) and a significantly shorter disease-free survival (p=0.008). Surprisingly, our findings suggest that sst2 gene overexpression is a feature of colorectal tumors that have a negative outlook; in addition, it may allow additional insight into conventional therapeutic approaches for more aggressive tumors, whose prognosis needs to be improved.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Clinical Physiopathology, University of Florence, viale Pieraccini 6, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia Casini
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Raggi
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cianchi
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valanzano
authors.forename: Michela Cameron
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serio
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maggi
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Orlando
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis; D017481:Receptors, Somatostatin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D017481:Receptors, Somatostatin; C093733:somatostatin receptor 2