title: The activity of RhoA is correlated with lymph node metastasis in human colorectal cancer.
abstract: Rho family GTPases play a pivotal role in the regulation of numerous cellular functions associated with malignant transformation and metastasis. To evaluate the role of these GTPases in colorectal cancer, the protein expression levels and activities of these proteins in matched sets of tumor and non-tumor tissues of surgical specimens were analyzed. The relationship between the protein levels and activities in tumor tissues to the clinicopathological features was also assessed. The expression levels of RhoA, active RhoA, Rac1, and active Rac1 in tumor tissues were higher than in normal tissues. The amounts of active RhoA protein in primary tumors correlated with lymph nodes metastasis. No relationship was noted between the protein expression levels and other clinicopathological findings. These findings suggest that the Rho family small GTPases are related to malignant transformation and progression of colorectal cancer and the activation of RhoA is associated with the lymph node metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takami
authors.forename: Morihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumagai
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Hidetada
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawana
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koda
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harigaya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C066737:RHOA protein, human; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein