Published online Aug 15, 2019. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v11.i8.589
Peer-review started: February 15, 2019
First decision: March 14, 2019
Revised: April 2, 2019
Accepted: May 23, 2019
Article in press: May 23, 2019
Published online: August 15, 2019
Core tip: We have previously shown that secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4) is over-expressed in colon cancer, especially in patients younger than 50 years. As these early-onset colon cancers tend to be more aggressive and negatively affecting patients’ survival, we sought to evaluate whether SFRP4 is co-expressed with epithelial-mesenchymal transition-linked genes that play key roles in cancer progression. Our results using a large colon adenocarcinoma-The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort revealed that SFRP4 is over-expressed in colon cancer patients together with epithelial-mesenchymal transition-linked genes. Moreover, colon cancer patients with high expression levels of SFRP4 showed significantly poorer survival relative to colon cancer patients with lower SFRP4 expression.