title: Downregulation of caspase-9 is a frequent event in patients with stage II colorectal cancer and correlates with poor clinical outcome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical significance of caspase-9 mRNA expression and investigate its prognostic value in stage II colorectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative real-time RT-PCR was used to analyse caspase-9 mRNA expression in cancer tissue and corresponding normal mucosa from 120 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with normal mucosa, the expression of caspase-9 mRNA was found to be downregulated in cancer tissue (P = 0.001). Poorly differentiated cancer showed lower mRNA expression than cancer with greater differentiation (P = 0.031). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that patients with downregulated caspase-9 showed a worse overall survival (P = 0.012) and disease-free survival (P = 0.022). Cox's proportional hazards regression model confirmed that expression of caspase-9 was the strongest prognostic factor in stage II colorectal cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mRNA expression of caspase-9 can be used as an independent prognostic factor for patients with stage II colorectal cancer.
authors: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors: X-G
authors: XG
authors: Shen
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Wang
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Zhou
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Xu
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Jiang
authors: Z-G
authors: ZG
authors: Zhou
authors: X-F
authors: XF
authors: Sun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality*; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D053453:Caspase 9