title: Assessment of elasticity of colorectal cancer tissue, clinical utility, pathological and phenotypical relevance.
abstract: Generally, cancer tissue is palpated as a hard mass. However, the elastic nature of cancer tissue is not well understood. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical utility of measuring the elastic modulus (EM) in colorectal cancer tissue. Using a tactile sensor, we measured the EM of 106 surgically resected colorectal cancer tissues. Data on the EM were compared with clinicopathological findings, including stromal features represented by Azan staining and the α-SMA positive area ratio of the tumor area. Finally, a cDNA microarray profile of the tumors with high EM were compared with the findings of tumors with low EM. A higher EM in tumors was associated with pathological T, N, and M-stage tumors (P < 0.001, P = 0.001 and P = 0.011, respectively). Patients with high EM tumors had shorter disease-free survival than had patients with low EM. The EM showed strongly positive correlation with the Azan staining positive area ratio (r = 0.908) and the α-SMA positive area ratio (r = 0.921). Finally, the cDNA microarray data of the tumors with high EM revealed a distinct gene expression profile compared with data from those tumors with low EM. The assessment of the elasticity of colorectal cancer tissue may allow a more accurate clinical stage and prognosis estimation. The distinct phenotypical features of the high EM tumors and their strong association with stromal features suggest the existence of a biological mechanism involved in this phenomenon that may contribute to future therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal and Pelvic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.|Advanced Clinical Research of Cancer, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawano
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Motohiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Motokazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal and Pelvic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal and Pelvic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakuyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Advanced Clinical Research of Cancer, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.|Department of Head and Neck Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal and Pelvic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004548:Elasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Colorectal cancer; disease-free survival; elasticity; pathological; phenotypical