Tumorigenesis and tumor progression related gene expression profiles in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the different gene expression profiles in colorectal cancer (CRC) has important implications in understanding the correlation between candidate genes and clinical histopathological features, as well as in developing prognostic prediction markers.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify the expression profiles of tumorigenesis and tumor progression related genes in Taiwanese CRC patients.

METHODS: In this study, we analyze 18 candidate gene expressions of 77 CRC tissues by a GeXP multiplexed assay.

RESULTS: The results showed VEGF (71.4%), SOX9 (68.8%), MYC (62.3%), CCND1 (59.7%), TP53 (59.4%), MMP9 (53.3%), and BIRC5 (50.6%) as significantly overexpressed genes in CRC tissues. VEGF was the most highly overexpressed gene. In addition, VEGF was overexpressed in larger tumors (P=0.037, OR=2.981, 95% CI, 1.049-8.477). MMP9 overexpression was correlated to deeper tumor invasion (P=0.001, OR=11.022, 95% CI, 2.281-53.262), and BIRC5 was overexpressed in the presence of perineural invasion (P=0.026, OR=4.250, 95% CI, 1.240-14.562).

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study offered valuable information about the relationship between different gene expressions and clinical pathological features, and these biomarkers represent a potential role for CRC prognosis prediction and establishing therapeutic strategies.