Gastrointestinal Research Group, Division of Applied Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK.
Br J Cancer. 2013 Jun 25;108(12):2537-41. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2013.264. Epub 2013 Jun 4.
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) has a diverse functional repertoire, involved in the innate immune response as well as cell growth and differentiation. Expression has been linked to malignant disease development and progression.
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin expression was assessed immunohistochemically in 98 colorectal neoplastic lesions (52 cancer polyps (CaPs) and 46 sporadic adenoma/adjacent normal mucosa paired specimens) to investigate association with adenoma progression and early colorectal carcinogenesis.
Within CaPs, all adenomatous and carcinomatous epithelium expressed NGAL, with 92% (43 out of 47) and 58% (19 out of 33) epithelial positivity, respectively, as well as positive stromal cell expression. This was significantly increased compared with normal mucosal epithelium (P=0.0001). Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin positivity was also identified in sporadic low-grade adenomas, in both the epithelial and stromal compartments as compared with adjacent normal mucosa (P=0.0001 and 0.0002), and this increased along with adenoma size >1 cm (P=0.03).
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin is expressed by the majority of human neoplastic colorectal lesions. This phenotypic switch occurs at an early stage in neoplastic progression with clear differential expression between normal mucosa and adenomatous polyps, rather than further downstream in disease progression at the adenoma-carcinoma transformation. Thus, NGAL expression is not a useful biomarker for determining disease progression from adenomatous to malignant colorectal neoplasia.
中性粒细胞明胶酶相关载脂蛋白（NGAL）具有多样化的功能，参与固有免疫反应以及细胞生长和分化。其表达与恶性疾病的发展和进展有关。
通过免疫组织化学方法评估 98 例结直肠肿瘤病变（52 例癌症息肉（CaPs）和 46 例散发性腺瘤/相邻正常黏膜配对标本）中的中性粒细胞明胶酶相关载脂蛋白表达，以研究其与腺瘤进展和早期结直肠癌发生的关系。
在 CaPs 中，所有腺瘤性和癌性上皮均表达 NGAL，分别有 92%（43/47）和 58%（19/33）上皮阳性率，以及阳性的基质细胞表达。与正常黏膜上皮相比，这显著增加（P=0.0001）。与相邻正常黏膜相比，散发性低级别腺瘤的上皮和基质细胞中也发现了中性粒细胞明胶酶相关载脂蛋白阳性（P=0.0001 和 0.0002），并且随着腺瘤大小>1cm 而增加（P=0.03）。
中性粒细胞明胶酶相关载脂蛋白在大多数人类结直肠肿瘤病变中表达。这种表型转换发生在肿瘤进展的早期，与正常黏膜和腺瘤性息肉之间存在明显的差异表达，而不是在疾病进展的腺瘤-癌转化的下游。因此，NGAL 表达不是用于确定从腺瘤性到恶性结直肠肿瘤进展的有用生物标志物。
