title: The expression of beclin 1 is associated with favorable prognosis in stage IIIB colon cancers.
abstract: Beclin 1 is a key modulator bridging autophagy, apoptosis and differentiation. This study investigated the expression of beclin 1 in human colon cancers and its association with clinicopathological characteristics. A total of 115 cases of cancer tissues with intact follow-up data were obtained from colon cancer patients with stage IIIB. The expression of beclin 1 in cancer nest and adjacent normal tissue was examined with immunohistochemistry. The results showed the immunostaining of beclin 1 was distributed in plasma-membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus in tumor cells, which occurred in 98 cases (85.2%) of the 115 patients. No or modest beclin 1 expression was observed in adjacent noncancerous tissues. The higher level of beclin 1 expression strongly associated with longer survival. Both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis showed that the beclin 1 expression and invasive depth of primary mass (T stage) were independent prognostic factors. Additionally, there was no significant correlation of beclin 1 expression with clinicopathological characteristics, such as sex, age, site of primary mass, pathological classification, grade and invasive depth with the nonparametric correlation Kendall's tau-b test.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Biotherapy Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bao-Xiu
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chun-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Rui-Qing
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hai-Ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: De-Sen
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Xiao-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiao-Shi
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000235:genetics; D000071186:Beclin-1; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; C491997:BECN1 protein, human; D000071186:Beclin-1; D008565:Membrane Proteins