Diverse expression patterns of mucin 2 in colorectal cancer indicates its mechanism related to the intestinal mucosal barrier

Table 2 Relationship between expression of mucin 2 and clinicopathological parameters in patients with colorectal cancer, n (%)

Clinicopathological parameter	n (%)	MUC2 expression		χ2	P value
		Low, n (%)	High, n (%)
Age, yr
≤ 60	48	22 (45.8)	26 (54.2)	0.001	0.974
> 60	52	24 (46.2)	28 (53.8)
Gender
Male	52	23 (44.2)	29 (55.8)	0.137	0.712
Female	48	23 (47.9)	25 (52.1)
Tumor location
Rectum and anus	48	21 (43.8)	27 (56.3)	0.188	0.664
Colon	52	25 (48.1)	27 (51.9)
TNM stage
I-II	57	17 (29.8)	40 (70.2)	13.963	< 0.01
III	43	29 (67.4)	14 (32.6)
Maximum tumor diameter
< 5 cm	49	23 (46.9)	26 (53.1)	0.034	0.854
≥ 5 cm	51	23 (45.1)	28 (54.9)
Depth of invasion
Non-immersed serosa	22	8 (36.4)	14 (63.6)	1.054	0.304
Immersed serosa	78	38 (48.7)	40 (51.3)
Degree of differentiation
High-moderate	93	42 (45.2)	51 (54.8)	F1	0.700
Low	7	4 (57.1)	3 (42.9)
Tumor type
Mucinous adenocarcinoma	13	5 (38.5)	8 (61.5)	0.342	0.559
Non-mucinous adenocarcinoma	87	41 (47.1)	46 (52.9)
Lymph node metastasis
No	56	17 (30.4)	39 (69.6)	12.538	< 0.01
Yes	44	29 (65.9)	15 (34.1)

¹Fisher exact test was used when the expected frequency was less than 1. Due to the small number of patients with stage I, in order to reduce bias, we combined the stage I with stage II patients for analysis. Similarly, there was only one patient with highly differentiated colorectal cancer, so the patient was combined with patients with moderately differentiated disease. It can be seen from the above table that the expression of mucin 2 is correlated with tumor-node-metastasis stage and lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer patients. MUC2: Mucin 2; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.