Immunohistochemical analysis of colorectal cancer with gastric phenotype: claudin-18 is associated with poor prognosis.
Claudin-18 plays a key role in constructing tight junctions, and altered claudin-18 expression has been documented in various human malignancies; however, little is known about the biological significance of claudin-18 in colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of this study is to investigate the significance of claudin-18 expression in CRC and its association with clinicopathological factors. We performed clinicopathological analysis of claudin-18 expression in a total of 569 CRCs by immunohistochemistry. Moreover, we investigated the association between claudin-18 and various markers including gastric/intestinal phenotype (MUC5AC, MUC6, MUC2 and CD10), CDX2, claudin-3, claudin-4, p53 and Ki-67. Claudin-18 expression was detected in 21 of the 569 CRCs (4%) and was seen exclusively on the cell membrane. Positive expression of claudin-18 showed a significant correlation with positive expression of MUC5AC (P < 0.0001) and negative expression of CDX2 (P= 0.0013). The prognosis of patients with positive claudin-18 expression was significantly poorer than in negative cases (P= 0.0106). Multivariate analysis revealed that T grade, M grade and claudin-18 expression were independent predictors of survival in patients with CRC. We revealed that claudin-18 expression correlates with poor survival in patients with CRC and is associated with the gastric phenotype.
Matsuda
Miho
M
Department of Molecular Pathology, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan.
Sentani
Kazuhiro
K
Noguchi
Tsuyoshi
T
Hinoi
Takao
T
Okajima
Masazumi
M
Matsusaki
Keisuke
K
Sakamoto
Naoya
N
Anami
Katsuhiro
K
Naito
Yutaka
Y
Oue
Naohide
N
Yasui
Wataru
W
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D057167:Claudins; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013270:Stomach / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C486683:CLDN18 protein, human; D057167:Claudins; D008565:Membrane Proteins