Immunohistochemical expression of bcl-2 in Dukes' stage B and C colorectal carcinoma patients: correlation with p53 and ki-67 in evaluating prognostic significance.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of bcl-2 in Dukes' stage B and stage C (AJCC/UICC stage I and III) colorectal adenocarcinomas and to examine its association with clinicopathological features, p53, ki-67 and long term outcome. Paraffin embedded specimens from 61 patients with Dukes' stage B (AJCC/UICC stage I) and 39 patients with Dukes' stage C (AJCC/UICC stage III) colorectal adenocarcinoma who were treated with surgery were assessed. We used immunohistochemistry to determine the expression of bcl-2, p53 and ki-67 with a five-year follow-up. Positive bcl-2 expression was seen in 27 cases (27%). Expression of bcl-2 protein was related to tumor stage (p=0.0117). There was very strong evidence of an association between bcl-2 staining and ki-67 score (p<0.001). There was a trend towards increased survival in patients whose tumors expressed bcl-2 protein (p=0.001). When entered into a multivariate analysis model, which also included p53 and stage, bcl-2 staining emerged as a prognostic indicator variable. Expression of bcl-2 appears to be useful in selecting a group of colorectal cancer patients with a better prognosis.
3rd Department of Surgery, Tzanio Hospital, Athens, Greece. hzavrides@hotmail.com
Harris
H
Zavrides
Adamantia
A
Zizi-Sermpetzoglou
Ioannis
I
Elemenoglou
Ioannis
I
Papatheofanis
Georgios
G
Peros
Georgios
G
Athanasas
Dimitrios
D
Panousopoulos
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53