title: Pattern of Melanotransferrin Expression in Human Colorectal Tissues: An Immunohistochemical Study on Potential Clinical Application.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our previous liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) study on colorectal cancer proteome resulted in identification of 10,000 differentially expressed proteins. We observed a significantly changed expression of 25% of all identified proteins between patient and matched adjacent normal mucosa, carcinoma and colorectal adenoma, including melanotransferrin. Herein, we consider this protein as a potential biomarker of colorectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemical detection of melanotransferrin was carried-out to localize its expression pattern within the colorectal tissues by tissue microarray. The diagnostic utility of melanotransferrin was evaluated in patient serum by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Strong melanotransferrin expression was found to be related to clinicopathological characteristics, lymph node involvement (p=0.008), tumor localization in colon (p=0.001), presence of mucin (p<0.013) and increasing tumor grade (p<0.001). Melanotransferrin level in serum from patients with colorectal cancer was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We provide novel evidence that melanotransferrin may be involved in transformation from benign tumor to malignancy and is a marker of an invasive tumor phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland kamila.dus@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kamila
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duś-Szachniewicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ostasiewicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Woźniak
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kołodziej
authors.affiliation: Department of Proteomics and Signal Transduction, Biochemical Proteomics Group, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany.
authors.forename: Jacek R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wiśniewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ziółkowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: C000599356:MELTF protein, human; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins
keywords: Melanotransferrin; adenoma–carcinoma sequence; colorectal carcinoma; pathogenesis; poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma; tumorigenesis