Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jan 15, 2019; 11(1): 9-16
Published online Jan 15, 2019. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v11.i1.9
Clinicopathological significance of human leukocyte antigen F-associated transcript 10 expression in colorectal cancer
Chun-Yang Zhang, Jie Sun, Xing Wang, Cui-Fang Wang, Xian-Dong Zeng
Chun-Yang Zhang, Department of Emergency Medicine, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang 110024, Liaoning Province, China
Jie Sun, Xing Wang, Cui-Fang Wang, Department of Pathology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang 110024, Liaoning Province, China
Xian-Dong Zeng, Department of Surgical Oncology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang 110024, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang CY and Sun J contributed equally to this work; Zhang CY, Sun J, Wang X, Wang CF and Zeng XD designed the research; Wang X performed pathology sectioning and immunohistochemical staining; Zhang CY and Sun J analyzed the data; Zhang CY, Sun J, Wang CF and Zeng XD wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: Institutional review board approval of Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College was obtained for this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xian-Dong Zeng, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Surgical Oncology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, No. 5 South Seven West Road, Tiexi District, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110024, China. 1403973708@qq.com
Telephone: +86-24-85715888
Received: October 17, 2018
Peer-review started: October 18, 2018
First decision: November 14, 2018
Revised: December 5, 2018
Accepted: December 17, 2018
Article in press: December 17, 2018
Published online: January 15, 2019
Processing time: 90 Days and 5.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. The worldwide mortality rate of CRC is about one half of its morbidity. Ubiquitin is a key regulatory factor in the cell cycle and widely exists in eukaryotes. Human leukocyte antigen F-associated transcript 10 (FAT10), known as diubiquitin, is an 18 kDa protein with 29% and 36% homology with the N and C termini of ubiquitin. The function of FAT10 has not been fully elucidated, and some studies have shown that it plays an important role in various cell processes.

AIM

To examine FAT10 expression and to analyze the relationship between FAT10 expression and the clinicopathological parameters of CRC.

METHODS

FAT10 expression in 61 cases of CRC and para-cancer colorectal tissues was measured by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. The relationship between FAT10 expression and clinicopathological parameters of CRC was statistically analyzed.

RESULTS

Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the positive rate of FAT10 expression in CRC (63.93%) was significantly higher than that in tumor-adjacent tissues (9.84%, P < 0.05) and normal colorectal mucosal tissue (1.64%, P < 0.05). Western blotting also indicated that FAT10 expression was significantly higher in CRC than in tumor-adjacent tissue (P < 0.05). FAT10 expression was closely associated with clinical stage and lymphatic spread of CRC. FAT10 expression also positively correlated with p53 expression.

CONCLUSION

FAT10 expression is highly upregulated in CRC. FAT10 expression is closely associated with clinical stage and lymphatic spread of CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Ubiquitin; Ubiquitin-like proteins; Human leukocyte antigen F-associated transcript 10; p53

Core tip: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. Genetic studies have demonstrated that the development of CRC is a complex process involving the activation of proto-oncogenes, inactivation of tumor suppressor genes, gene mutations, and dysregulation of apoptosis-related genes. Human leukocyte antigen F-associated transcript 10 (FAT10) is a regulatory protein of the ubiquitin-like modifier family that regulates various cell processes including mitosis, chromosome stability, apoptosis, immune control, and 26S-proteasome-mediated protein degradation. Our study investigated FAT10 expression in tumor and tumor-adjacent tissues of CRC patients and analyzed the relationship between FAT10 expression and the clinicopathological parameters of CRC.