title: Stromal-cell-derived Factor 1-α Promotes Tumor Progression in Colorectal Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although stromal-cell-derived factor (SDF)-1α is suggested to be involved in tumorigenicity and tumor angiogenesis, the clinicopathological significance of its expression in colorectal cancers is not fully understood. We examined SDF-1α expression in colorectal cancers and investigated its relationship to clinicopathological features such as tumor staging, lymph-node metastasis, vascular invasion (VI), lymphatic invasion (LI) and neural invasion (NI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Specimens of 83 primary colorectal cancers were examined immunohistochemically, and the relationships between clinicopathological features and SDF-1α expression were analyzed. To compare the expressions between the normal colon tissue and colorectal cancer tissues, we performed Western blot analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the Western blot analyses, SDF-1α was more highly expressed in colorectal carcinoma tissues than in normal colonic mucosa (20/21). According to the immunohistochemical stain, SDF-1α was associated with nodal status, distant metastasis, tumor staging, VI and LI. SDF-1α expression had a significant prognostic value for overall survival. Kaplan-Meier plots of survival in patients with high SDF-1α showed that high SDF-1α expression was associated with a shorter overall survival. However, no association was found between SDF-1α expression and other pathologic or clinical variables, including age, gender, degree of differentiation, and presence of perineural invasion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expression of SDF-1α might be associated with tumor progression in colorectal cancer. Inhibition of SDF-1α could be a therapeutic option in colorectal cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
authors.forename: Se Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Tae Sung
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Sung Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Chang Jin
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dong Jun
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Myung Won
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Sang Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Eung Jin
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Moon Soo
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chang Ho
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Moo Jun
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Baek