Expression of FXYD3 protein in relation to biological and clinicopathological variables in colorectal cancers.

BACKGROUND

FXYD3 is up-/down-regulated in different types of cancers. We examined FXYD3 expression in colorectal cancers and its relationship to biological and clinicopathological variables.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Expression of FXYD3 protein was immunohistochemically examined in distant normal mucosa (n = 34), adjacent normal mucosa (n = 72), primary tumour (n = 150) and lymph node metastasis (n = 35) from colorectal cancer patients.

RESULTS

FXYD3 was highly expressed in primary tumour compared to adjacent normal mucosa (p = 0.02). FXYD3 was or tended to be positively related to the expression of ras (p = 0.02), p53 (p = 0.06), legumain (p = 0.02) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (p = 0.03). Moreover, there was a higher frequency of strong FXYD3 expression in Dukes A-C tumours than in D tumours (p = 0.04). The strong FXYD3 expression tended to predict worse survival in the patients with Dukes A + B tumour (p = 0.07), while there was no such tendency in the patients with Dukes C + D tumour (p = 0.94). The tumours located in the colon had a higher degree of FXYD3 expression than the tumours located in the rectum (p = 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The FXYD3 was associated with certain biological variables and may be involved in the development of the relative earlier stages of colorectal cancers.