Bax protein may influence the invasion of colorectal cancer

Table 1 Relationship between proapoptotic Bax and Bak proteins and clinico-pathological parameters n (%)

Variables		Bax expression		P value	Bak expression		P value
		Weak	Strong		Weak	Strong
Age	≤ 60	5 (50)	5 (50)	0.566	5 (50)	5 (50)	0.470
	> 60	24 (60)	16 (40)		25 (62.5)	15 (37.5)
Gender	Male	14 (60,9)	9 (39.1)	0.704	15 (65.2)	8 (34.8)	0.487
	Female	15 (55.6)	12 (44.4)		15 (55.6)	12 (44.4)
Localization	Colon	12 (42.9)	16 (57.1)	< 0.050	13 (46.4)	15 (53.6)	< 0.050
	Rectum	17 (77.3)	5 (22.7)		17 (77.3)	5 (22.7)
Adenocarcinoma type	Non-mucinous	28 (62.2)	17 (37.8)	0.069	27 (60)	18 (40)	1.000
	Mucinous	1 (20)	4 (80)		3 (60)	2 (40)
pT stage	2	3 (100)	0 (0)	0.128	3 (100)	0 (0)	0.144
	3	26 (55.3)	21 (44.7)		27 (57. 5)	20 (42.5)
Lymph node metastasis	Absent	17 (60.7)	11 (39.3)	0.660	18 (64.3)	10 (35.7)	0.485
	Present	12 (54.5)	10 (45.5)		12 (54.5)	10 (45.5)
Distant metastasis	Absent	27 (60)	18 (40)	0.390	26 (57.8)	19 (42.2)	0.335
	Present	2 (40)	3 (60)		4 (80)	1 (20)
Lymphocytic infiltration	Absent	2 (40)	3 (60)	0.064	4 (80)	1 (20)	0.562
	Weak	14 (56)	11 (44)		14 (56)	11 (44)
	Moderate	13 (76.5)	4 (23.5)		11 (64.7)	6 (35.3)
	Strong	0 (0)	3 (100)		1 (33.3)	2 (66.7)
Vascular invasion	Absent	17 (73.9)	6 (26.1)	< 0.050	15 (65.2)	8 (34.8)	0.487
	Present	12 (44.4)	15 (55.6)		15 (55.6)	12 (44.4)
Tumor budding	Absent	7 (63.6)	4 (36.4)	0.668	8 (72.7)	3 (27.3)	0.329
	Present	22 (56.4)	17 (43.6)		22 (56.4)	17 (43.6)

Relationships were considered significant at P < 0.05. Significant relationships are marked in bold. Missing data were removed in pairs.

Table 2 Relationship between antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL and clinico-pathological parameters n (%)

Variables		Bcl-xL expression		P value
		Weak	Strong
Age	≤ 60	3 (33.3)	6 (66.7)	0.853
	> 60	15 (36.6)	26 (63.4)
Gender	Male	9 (37.5)	15 (62.5)	0.831
	Female	9 (34.6)	17 (65.4)
Localization	Colon	8 (28.6)	20 (71.4)	0.216
	Rectum	10 (45.5)	12 (54.5)
Adenocarcinoma type	Non-mucinous	16 (35.6)	29 (64.4)	0.844
	Mucinous	2 (40)	3 (60)
pT stage	2	2 (66.7)	1 (33.3)	0.253
	3	16 (34)	31 (66)
Lymph node metastasis	Absent	8 (29.6)	19 (70.4)	0.309
	Present	10 (43.5)	13 (56.5)
Distant metastasis	Absent	14 (31.8)	30 (68.2)	0.095
	Present	4 (66.7)	2 (33.3)
Lymphocytic infiltration	Absent	2 (40)	3 (60)	0.423
	Weak	8 (32)	17 (68)
	Moderate	8 (47.1)	9 (52.9)
	Strong	0 (0)	3 (100)
Vascular invasion	Absent	10 (43.5)	13 (56.5)	0.309
	Present	8 (29.6)	19 (70.4)
Tumor budding	Absent	5 (45.4)	6 (54.5)	0.459
	Present	13 (33.3)	26 (66.7)

Relationships were considered significant at P < 0.05. Significant relationships are marked in bold. Missing data were removed in pairs.

Table 3 Correlations between apoptotic proteins: antiapoptotic Bcl-xL protein and proapoptotic Bak and Bax proteins in colorectal cancer n (%)

	Bcl-xL expression		P value	Bak expression		P value
	Weak	Strong		Weak	Strong
Bak weak	15 (51.72)	14 (48.28)	< 0.010	19 (65.52)	10 (34.48)	0.349
strong	1 (5.26)	18 (94.74)		11 (52.38)	10 (47.62)
Bax weak	11 (39.29)	17 (60.71)	0.300
strong	5 (25)	15 (75)

Relationships were considered significant at P < 0.05. Significant relationships are marked in bold. Missing data were removed in pairs.