title: Increased Expression of Thymosin β4Is Independently Correlated with Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α (HIF-1α) and Worse Clinical Outcome in Human Colorectal Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thymosin β4is a multi-functional hormone-like polypeptide, being involved in cell migration, angiogenesis, and tumor metastasis. This study was undertaken to clarify the clinicopathologic implications of thymosin β4expression in human colorectal cancers (CRCs).
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated tissue sections from 143 patients with CRC by immunohistochemistry. In addition, we evaluated the expression patterns and the clinico-pathological significance of thymosin β4expression in association with hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression in the CRC series.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High expression of thymosin β4was significantly correlated with lymphovascular invasion, invasion depth, regional lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and TNM stage. Patients with high expression of thymosin β4showed poor recurrence-free survival (p = .001) and poor overall survival (p = .005) on multivariate analysis. We also found that thymosin β4and HIF-1α were overexpressed and that thymosin β4expression increased in parallel with HIF-1α expression in CRC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high expression level of thymosin β4indicates poor clinical outcomes and may be a useful prognostic factor in CRC. Thymosin β4is functionally related with HIF-1α and may be a potentially valuable biomarker and possible therapeutic target for CRC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Yun
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Mee Ja
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hye Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Son
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Chang Nam
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Joo Heon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Wook
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Kang
keywords: Colorectal cancer; Hypoxia; Hypoxia inducible factor-1α; Immunohistochemistry; Thymosin β4