title: High expression of testes-specific protease 50 is associated with poor prognosis in colorectal carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Testes-specific protease 50 (TSP50) is normally expressed in testes and abnormally expressed in breast cancer, but whether TSP50 is expressed in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and its clinical significance is unclear. We aimed to detect TSP50 expression in CRC, correlate it with clinicopathological factors, and assess its potential diagnostic and prognostic value.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TSP50 mRNAs and proteins were detected in 7 CRC cell lines and 8 CRC specimens via RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Immunohistochemical analysis of TSP50, p53 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with tissue microarrays composed of 95 CRCs, 20 colorectal adenomas and 20 normal colorectal tissues were carried out and correlated with clinicopathological characteristics and disease-specific survival for CRC patients. There was no significant correlation between the expression levels of TSP50 and p53 (P = 0.751) or CEA (P = 0.663). Abundant expression of TSP50 protein was found in CRCs (68.4%) while it was poorly expressed in colorectal adenomas and normal tissues (P<0.0001). Thus, CRCs can be distinguished from them with high specificity (92.5%) and positive predictive value (PPV, 95.6%). The survival of CRC patients with high TSP50 expression was significantly shorter than that of the patients with low TSP50 expression (P = 0.010), specifically in patients who had early-stage tumors (stage I and II; P = 0.004). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that high TSP50 expression was a statistically significant independent risk factor (hazard ratio  = 2.205, 95% CI = 1.214-4.004, P = 0.009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate that TSP50 is a potential effective indicator of poor survival for CRC patients, especially for those with early-stage tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Ganfeng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Guangjie
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Xiaochu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Qianwei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000235:genetics; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C446379:testis-specific protease 50