Department of Gastroenterological Surgery I, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-ku, Kita 14, Nishi 7, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan.
Genomics Unit, Keio Cancer Center, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Med Oncol. 2018 Jun 11;35(7):104. doi: 10.1007/s12032-018-1164-x.
Tumor budding is thought to represent a manifestation of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and it has been correlated with poor patient outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC). Our group recently demonstrated that human chorionic gonadotropin-β (hCGβ) modulates EMT in CRC. In the current study, based on the likely relationships between tumor budding and hCGβ expression, we examined their clinicopathologic significance in CRC. Twenty-eight of 80 (35.0%) CRC showed tumor budding. Tumor budding significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (P < 0.01), pathologic stage (P < 0.01), lymphatic invasion (P = 0.044), and vascular invasion (P = 0.013). Thirteen of 80 (16.3%) CRC were hCGβ positive on immunohistochemistry. More tumor buds were present in the hCGβ-positive cases (P < 0.01), and tumor budding was significantly correlated with hCGβ positivity (P < 0.01). Cases with both tumor budding and hCGβ expression had the poorest prognosis compared with all other groups (P < 0.01). In conclusion, tumor budding and hCGβ expression are closely associated with EMT, and they are independent prognostic factors in CRC. They identify patients with an "EMT phenotype" who may respond to targeted molecular therapies.
肿瘤芽被认为代表上皮间质转化（EMT）的表现，并且已经与结直肠癌（CRC）患者的不良预后相关。我们的研究小组最近表明，人绒毛膜促性腺激素-β（hCGβ）调节 CRC 中的 EMT。在当前的研究中，基于肿瘤芽和 hCGβ表达之间的可能关系，我们检查了它们在 CRC 中的临床病理意义。80 例 CRC 中有 28 例（35.0％）显示肿瘤芽。肿瘤芽与淋巴结转移（P <0.01）、病理分期（P <0.01）、淋巴血管侵犯（P = 0.044）和血管侵犯（P = 0.013）显著相关。80 例 CRC 中有 13 例（16.3％）免疫组化呈 hCGβ阳性。hCGβ 阳性病例的肿瘤芽更多（P <0.01），并且肿瘤芽与 hCGβ 阳性显著相关（P <0.01）。与所有其他组相比，同时具有肿瘤芽和 hCGβ 表达的病例预后最差（P <0.01）。总之，肿瘤芽和 hCGβ 表达与 EMT 密切相关，并且是 CRC 的独立预后因素。它们可以识别出可能对靶向分子治疗有反应的具有“EMT 表型”的患者。
