title: Clinical-pathological correlation of K-Ras mutation and ERK phosphorylation in colorectal cancer.
abstract: The Ras-ERK pathway is frequently up-regulated in colorectal cancer. We analyzed the clinical-pathological correlation of K-Ras mutation and phospho-ERK expression in colorectal cancer. K-Ras mutations were detected in only 32.5% (41/126) of the colorectal cancer cases, while all cancers were positive for phospho-ERK staining. Colorectal cancer with wild-typeK-Ras and low phospho-ERK expression had a significantly higher survival rate (log-rank P = 0.04). There were 9 cases of K-Ras mutation/low phospho-ERK diseases; 88.9% (8/9) of them were stage III/IV diseases. High phospho-ERK expression was associated with a high stage and T status of the cancer, yet combined K-Ras mutation/phospho-ERK expression analysis further increased the efficiency of colorectal cancer prognosis. Our results demonstrate that Ras-ERK pathway correlated closely with colorectal cancer progression. Moreover, although colorectal cancer with K-Ras mutations has a more aggressive phenotype; the mutation rate is not very high. Phospho-ERK may be a useful marker in combination with K-Ras for improving the prognosis of colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Changhua Christian Hospital,Changhua, Taiwan. 74630@cch.org.tw
authors.forename: Cheng-Jeng
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.forename: Chun-Chao
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Ming-Chung
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Chung-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Tzu-Cheng
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Pei-Ru
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chih-Jung
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kun-Tu
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Shu-Hui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Hung-Chang
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010766:Phosphorylation; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C535150:MAPK1 protein, human; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1