Kanczuga-Koda Luiza, Sulkowski Stanislaw, Koda Mariusz, Skrzydlewska Elzbieta, Sulkowska Mariola
Department of Pathology, Medical University of Bialystok, Waszyngtona 13, 15-269 Bialystok, Poland.
World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Mar 14;11(10):1544-8. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i10.1544.
To evaluate of Cx26 in correlation with Bcl-xL and Bax proteins in colorectal cancer.
Immunohistochemical staining using specific antibodies was performed to evaluate the protein expression of Cx26, Bax and Bcl-xL in 152 colorectal cancer samples and the correlations among studied proteins as well as the relationships between the expression of Cx26, Bax, Bcl-xL and clinicopathological features were analyzed.
Both normal epithelial cells and carcinoma cells expressed Cx26, Bax and Bcl-xL, but Cx26 in cancer cells showed aberrant, mainly cytoplasmic staining. Expression of Cx26, Bax and Bcl-xL was observed in 55.9%, 55.5% and 72.4% of evaluated colorectal cancers respectively. We found the positive correlation between Cx26 and Bax expression (r = 0.561, P<0.0001), Cx26 and Bcl-xL (r = 0.409, P<0.0001) as well as between Bax and Bcl-xL (r = 0.486, P<0.0001). Association of Cx26, Bax and Bcl-xL expression with histological G2 grade of tumors was noted (P<0.005, P<0.001 and P<0.002 respectively).
Cytoplasmic presence of Cx26 and its association with apoptotic markers could indicate a distinct role from physiological functions of Cx26 in cancer cells and it could suggest that connexins might be a target point for modulations of apoptosis with therapeutic implications.
评估结直肠癌中Cx26与Bcl-xL和Bax蛋白的相关性。
采用特异性抗体进行免疫组织化学染色，以评估152例结直肠癌样本中Cx26、Bax和Bcl-xL的蛋白表达，并分析所研究蛋白之间的相关性以及Cx26、Bax、Bcl-xL表达与临床病理特征之间的关系。
正常上皮细胞和癌细胞均表达Cx26、Bax和Bcl-xL，但癌细胞中的Cx26显示异常，主要为细胞质染色。在评估的结直肠癌中，分别有55.9%、55.5%和72.4%观察到Cx26、Bax和Bcl-xL的表达。我们发现Cx26与Bax表达之间呈正相关（r = 0.561，P<0.0001），Cx26与Bcl-xL之间呈正相关（r = 0.409，P<0.0001），Bax与Bcl-xL之间也呈正相关（r = 0.486，P<0.0001）。注意到Cx26、Bax和Bcl-xL表达与肿瘤的组织学G2分级有关（分别为P<0.005、P<0.001和P<0.002）。
Cx26在细胞质中的存在及其与凋亡标志物的关联可能表明其在癌细胞中的作用与生理功能不同，这可能提示连接蛋白可能是调节凋亡的靶点，具有治疗意义。
