The impact of cell proliferation markers and p53 mutation status on prognosis of non-metastatic colon cancer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of cell cycle proteins and p53 together with clinicopathologic features in non-metastatic resected colon cancer.

METHODS

One hundred nine patients who were diagnosed with resected colon cancer between 2006 and 2011 were analyzed retrospectively. Immunohistochemical staining analyses were used to evaluate the expression of cyclins D1 and A, p53 and Ki-67 in tumor tissue.

RESULTS

High cyclin D1 and cyclin A expression was more common in stage II than stage III tumors. Disease recurrence was more frequent in tumors with low cyclin D1 expression (P = 0.05). No significant association was observed between p53, Ki-67 or cyclin A expression and the risk of relapse and/or death. Multivariate analysis showed that the strongest predictor for a shorter disease-free survival period was extracapsular nodal invasion (ECNI).

CONCLUSIONS

We were not able to establish a strong association between patient prognosis and cyclins D1 and A, p53 or Ki-67 expression. However, a negative correlation between cyclin D1 and cyclin A expression and disease stage as well as more frequent relapses in patients with low expression of cyclin D1 suggested that cyclins may be predictive for early relapse in non-metastatic colon cancer.