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World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2006; 12(2): 298-301
Published online Jan 14, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i2.298
Particularly interesting new cysteine-histidine rich protein expression in colorectal adenocarcinomas
Zeng-Ren Zhao, Zhi-Yong Zhang, Dong-Sheng Cui, Li Jiang, Hui-Jun Zhang, Ming-Wei Wang, Xiao-Feng Sun
Zeng-Ren Zhao, Department of General Surgery, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
Dong-Sheng Cui, Central Laboratory, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
Hui-Jun Zhang, Department of Chest Surgery, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
Ming-Wei Wang, Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
Zhi-Yong Zhang, Li Jiang, Department of Pathology, Tangshan Worker, s Hospital, Tangshan, China
Xiao-Feng Sun, Department of Oncology, Institute of Biomedicine and Surgery, University of Linköping, Linköping, Sweden
Supported by grants from the Cancer Research Coordinating Committee of the University of California, United Stated.
Correspondence to: Xiao-Feng Sun, Professor, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, Institute of Biomedicine and Surgery, University of Linkoping, S-581 85, Sweden. xiasu@ibk.liu.se
Telephone: +46-13-222066 Fax: +46-13-222846
Received: June 7, 2005
Revised: June 8, 2005
Accepted: June 18, 2005
Published online: January 14, 2006
Abstract

AIM: To study the relationship between particularly interesting new cysteine-histidine rich protein (PINCH) expression and clinicopathological factors in Chinese colorectal cancer patients.

METHODS: The expression of PINCH was examined by immumohistochemistry in 141 samples of primary colorectal adenocarcinoma and 92 normal samples of colorectal mucosa. Eighty of the cases had both primary tumour and normal mucosa from the same patients.

RESULTS: PINCH was expressed in the stroma of normal mucosa and tumours. PINCH expression in tumour-associated stroma was increased compared to normal mucosa in both unmatched cases (n = 141, X2 = 85.79, df = 3, P  < 0.0001) and matched cases (n  = 80, X2 = 45.86, df = 3, P  < 0.0001). Among 135 tumours with visible invasive margin, 86 (64%) showed stronger PINCH expression at the invasive margin than in the intratumoural stroma. The frequency of PINCH strong expression in mucinous and signet-ring cell carcinomas was higher (52%) compared to non-mucinous carcinomas (29%, X2 = 5.13, P  = 0.02). We did not find that PINCH expression was related to patient’s gender, age, tumour location, tumour size, gross status, histological type, differentiation, invasion depth, lymph node status and Dukes’ stage (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The expression of PINCH was upregulated in colorectal cancers, and especially at the margin of tumours, and further was related to mucinous and signet-ring cell carcinomas. The results suggest that expression of PINCH may be involved in the tumourigenesis and aggressiveness of colorectal cancers.

Keywords: PINCH, Stroma, Colorectal cancer, Immunohistochemistry