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World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2014; 20(48): 18390-18396
Published online Dec 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i48.18390
Published online Dec 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i48.18390
Increased expression of tumor necrosis factor-α is associated with advanced colorectal cancer stages
Omar A Al Obeed, Khayal A Alkhayal, Ahmad M Zubaidi, Mansoor-Ali Vaali-Mohammed, Maha-Hamadien Abdulla, Colorectal Research Center, Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia
Abdulmalik Al Sheikh, Department of Pathology, King Saud University, Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia
Robin Boushey, Division of General Surgery, Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada
James H Mckerrow, Maha-Hamadien Abdulla, Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158-2330, United States
Author contributions: Al Obeed OA contributed to data collection, design of experiments and writing of manuscript; Alkhayal KA and Zubaidi AM contributed to data collection and data analysis; Vaali-Mohammed MA contributed to conduction of experiments and data analysis; Al Sheikh A contributed to construction of tissue microarray and review of patients’ histopathology; Boushey R contributed to design of experiments and writing of manuscript; Mckerrow JH contributed to design of experiments, writing of manuscript, evaluation of histological sections and tissue microarray; and Abdulla MH contributed to design the experiments, conducted the experiments, tissue microarray planning, and writing of manuscript.
Correspondence to: Maha-Hamadien Abdulla, PhD, Assistant Professor, Director of Colorectal Research Center, Department of Surgery, King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, PO Box 7805(37), Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia. mabdulla@ksu.edu.sa
Telephone: +966-1- 4671575 Fax: + 9661-4692728
Received: November 7, 2013
Revised: February 23, 2014
Accepted: June 20, 2014
Published online: December 28, 2014
Revised: February 23, 2014
Accepted: June 20, 2014
Published online: December 28, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: The relative expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) mRNA in colorectal cancer tumor tissue was significantly higher than adjacent normal tissue. In addition, higher TNF-α gene expression was associated significantly with advanced tumor as compared to early tumor stages. Colorectal tumor tissue contained many TNF-α positive cells, whereas normal colorectal tissue contained very few positive cells. We showed elevated TNF-α gene expression by cancer cells, which correlated strongly with advanced tumor stages. High levels of TNF-α expression could be an independent prognostic indicator, and targeting TNF-α may be a promising tool, which can be used to follow-up patients with colorectal carcinoma.