Lumican and versican are associated with good outcome in stage II and III colon cancer.
BACKGROUND
Tumor stroma plays an important role in the progression and metastasis of colon cancer. The glycoproteins versican and lumican are overexpressed in colon carcinomas and are associated with the formation of tumor stroma. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential prognostic value of versican and lumican expression in the epithelial and stromal compartment of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) stage II and III colon cancer.


METHODS
Clinicopathological data and tissue samples were collected from stage II (n = 226) and stage III (n = 160) colon cancer patients. Tissue microarrays were constructed with cores taken from both the center and the periphery of the tumor. These were immunohistochemically stained for lumican and versican. Expression levels were scored on digitized slides. Statistical evaluation was performed.


RESULTS
Versican expression by epithelial cells in the periphery of the tumor, i.e., near the invasive front, was correlated to a longer disease-free survival for the whole cohort (P = 0.01), stage III patients only (P = 0.01), stage III patients with microsatellite-instable tumors (P = 0.04), and stage III patients with microsatellite-stable tumors who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.006). Lumican expression in epithelial cells overall in the tumor was correlated to a longer disease-specific survival in stage II patients (P = 0.05) and to a longer disease-free survival and disease-specific survival in microsatellite-stable stage II patients (P = 0.02 and P = 0.004).


CONCLUSIONS
Protein expression of versican and lumican predicted good clinical outcome for stage III and II colon cancer patients, respectively.
Department of Pathology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Meike
M
de Wit
Eric J Th
EJ
Belt
Pien M
PM
Delis-van Diemen
Beatriz
B
Carvalho
Veerle M H
VM
Coupé
Hein B A C
HB
Stockmann
Herman
H
Bril
Jeroen A M
JA
Beliën
Remond J A
RJ
Fijneman
Gerrit A
GA
Meijer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000378:metabolism*; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007632:Keratan Sulfate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000071234:Lumican; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D053675:Versicans / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; C000604306:LUM protein, human; D000071234:Lumican; D053675:Versicans; D007632:Keratan Sulfate