Absence of autophagy-related proteins expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma.
Background/Aim. Autophagy, a cellular degradation process, has paradoxical roles in tumorigenesis and the progression of human cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression levels of autophagy-related proteins in colorectal cancer (CRC) and to evaluate their prognostic significance. Methods. This study is a retrospective review of immunohistochemical and clinicopathological data. All specimens evaluated were obtained from 263 patients with colorectal cancer who had undergone surgery between November 1996 and August 2007. The primary outcomes measured were the expression levels of three autophagy-related proteins (ATG5, BECN1/Beclin 1, and Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B (LC3B)) by immunohistochemistry and its association in clinicopathological parameters and patient survival. Results. The autophagy-related protein expression frequencies were 65.1% (151/232) for ATG5, 71.3% (174/244) for BECN1, and 74.7% (186/249) for LC3B for the 263 patients. Correlation between the expression of autophagy-related proteins was significant for all protein pairs. Multivariate analysis showed that negative LC3B expression and absence of autophagy-related proteins expression were independently associated with poor prognosis. Conclusion. Absence of autophagy-related proteins expression is associated with poor clinical outcome in CRC, suggesting that these proteins have potential uses as novel prognostic markers.
Department of Biomedical Science, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
Ji Hye
JH
Choi
Department of Internal Medicine, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Uijeongbu 480-717, Republic of Korea.
Young-Seok
YS
Cho
Department of Internal Medicine, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Uijeongbu 480-717, Republic of Korea.
Yoon Ho
YH
Ko
Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 138-736, Republic of Korea.
Soon Uk
SU
Hong
Department of Biomedical Science, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
Jin Hee
JH
Park
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
Myung Ah
MA
Lee