Expression of thrombospondin-1 in resected colorectal liver metastases predicts poor prognosis.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to examine the expression and prognostic relevance of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) in tumor biopsies taken from a consecutive series of liver resections done at the University Hospitals of Leicester and the Royal Liverpool Hospital.


METHODS
Patients having undergone a liver resection for colorectal liver metastases at our institutions between 1993 and 1999 inclusive were eligible. Inclusion criteria were curative intent, sufficient tumor biopsy, and patient follow-up data. One hundred eighty-two patients were considered in this study. Standard immunohistochemical techniques were used to study the expression of TSP-1 in 5-microm tumor sections from paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. TSP-1 was correlated with survival using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test for univariate analysis and the Cox proportional hazard model for multivariate analysis.


RESULTS
One hundred eighty-two patients (male, n = 122 and female, n = 60) ages between 25 and 81 years (mean, 61 years) were included. TSP-1 was expressed around blood vessels (n = 45, 25%) or in the stroma (n = 59, 33%). No expression was detected in the remaining tumors. TSP-1 significantly correlated with poor survival on univariate (P = 0.01 for perivascular expression and P = 0.03 for stromal expression) and multivariate analysis (P = 0.01 for perivascular expression).


CONCLUSIONS
TSP-1 is a negatively prognostic factor for survival in resected colorectal liver metastases.
Sutton
Christopher D
CD
Department of Surgery, University Hospitals of Leicester, Leicester, UK. crisdsutton@hotmail.com
O'Byrne
Kenneth
K
Goddard
Jonathan C
JC
Marshall
Leslie-Jayne
LJ
Jones
Louise
L
Garcea
Giuseppe
G
Dennison
Ashley R
AR
Poston
Graham
G
Lloyd
David M
DM
Berry
David P
DP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D019700:Thrombospondin 1 / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D019700:Thrombospondin 1