title: Clinical significance of growth differentiation factor 11 in colorectal cancer.
abstract: Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) subfamily, plays a role in regulation of development and differentiation. Although some members of BMP subfamily have been reported to correlate with cancer, the significance of GDF11 has not been studied in a clinical oncology setting. The current study explored the clinicopathological significance of GDF11 expression in colorectal cancer. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR in colorectal cancer specimens obtained from 130 patients showed that GDF11 mRNA expression in cancer tissue was significantly higher than in normal tissue (p=0.001). Tumors were classified as high GDF11 expression (n=65) or low GDF11 expression (n=65). Patients whose tumors had high GDF11 expression showed a high frequency of lymph node metastasis (p=0.049) and had more cancer-related deaths (p=0.040). Furthermore, the patients with high GDF11 expression had significantly poorer overall survival than those with low expression (p=0.0334). Although multivariate analysis showed that GDF11 was not an independent prognostic factor, these findings suggest that GDF11 may be a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in patients with colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu 874-0838, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokoe
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohmachi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Koshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mimori
authors.forename: Fumiaki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kusunoki
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D055412:Growth Differentiation Factors; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; C492266:GDF11 protein, human; D055412:Growth Differentiation Factors; D012333:RNA, Messenger