title: The clinical significance of DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR, which are novel markers expressed in human colon cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Colon cancer has always been diagnosed at a late stage, which is associated with poor prognosis. The currently used serum tumor markers CEA and CA19-9 display low sensitivity and specificity and may not have diagnostic value in early stage colon cancer. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify novel serum biomarkers for use in the early detection of colon cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, the expression of DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR in serum was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR expression was detected in cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry (IHC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The level of sDC-SIGN was lower in patients than in the healthy controls, while the level of sDC-SIGNR in patients was higher than in the healthy controls. Both sDC-SIGN and sDC-SIGNR had diagnostic significances for cancer patients, and the combined diagnosis of these two markers was higher than both of them alone. Furthermore, there were significant differences between both sDC-SIGN and sDC-SIGNR in stage I/II patients and the healthy controls. Moreover, high sDC-SIGN level was accompanied with the long survival time. Additionally, DC-SIGNR was negative in the cancer foci and matched normal colon tissues but was weakly positive between the cancer foci. DC-SIGN staining was faint in matched normal colon tissues, strong in the tumor stroma and the invasive margin of colon cancer tissues, and negatively correlated with the sDC-SIGN level in serum from the same patient. Interestingly, the percent survival of patients with a DC-SIGN mean density of>0.001219 (the upper 95% confidence interval of matched normal colon tissues) was higher than for all other patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR are blood-based molecular markers that can potentially be used for the diagnosis of early stage patients. Moreover, expression of DC-SIGN in serum and cancer tissues may affect the survival time for colon cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, College of Laboratory Diagnostic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116044, China; Department of Clinical Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, China.
authors.forename: Yanmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, College of Laboratory Diagnostic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116044, China; Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, China.
authors.forename: Changfu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116023, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116023, China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011, China.
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, College of Laboratory Diagnostic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116044, China.
authors.forename: Zhuqing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116023, China.
authors.forename: Dongbing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116023, China.
authors.forename: Shuangyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, College of Laboratory Diagnostic Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116044, China.
authors.forename: Yunfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zuo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D037181:Lectins, C-Type / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult; D000099215:DC-Specific ICAM-3 Grabbing Nonintegrin
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D000099215:DC-Specific ICAM-3 Grabbing Nonintegrin; C433029:CLEC4M protein, human