Research Report
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2014; 20(15): 4440-4445
Published online Apr 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i15.4440
Death decoy receptor overexpression and increased malignancy risk in colorectal cancer
Liang Zong, Ping Chen, Da-Xin Wang
Liang Zong, Ping Chen, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Su Bei People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, Jiangsu Province, China
Liang Zong, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan
Da-Xin Wang, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225001, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Zong L, Chen P and Wang DX contributed equally to study conception, data collection and analysis, and writing of the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Liang Zong, MD, PhD, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Su Bei People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou University, No. 98 Nantong West Road, Yangzhou 225001, Jiangsu Province, China. 250537471@qq.com
Telephone: +86-514-87373285 Fax: +86-514-87937406
Received: September 2, 2013
Revised: December 6, 2013
Accepted: January 8, 2014
Published online: April 21, 2014
Processing time: 226 Days and 21.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and death decoy receptor (DcR3) has been observed in clinical specimens of colorectal cancer, but their roles in prognosis remain unknown. In this systematic investigation of the immunohistochemistry staining patterns of HER2 and DcR3 in 300 clinical specimens, only DcR3 overexpression was identified as a potential prognostic marker of colorectal cancer. Specifically, DcR3 tumor-positive staining showed a strong statistical correlation with lymph node metastasis and poor overall survival. Moreover, HER2-positive patients with DcR3 overexpression had poorer overall survival than their DcR3-negative counterparts.