Colon adenoma and cancer cells aberrantly express the leukocyte-associated sialoglycoprotein CD43.

CD43 (leukosialin) has hitherto been considered as an exclusive leukocyte marker, but now we report the expression of CD43 in the epithelial cells of all studied colorectal adenomas (21/21) and in about 50% (18/34) of adenocarcinomas as analyzed both at the mRNA and protein levels. Direct evidence showing the causal role of CD43 in colon tumorigenesis is lacking, but its involvement in leukocyte activation and impairment of apoptotic response suggests a role for CD43 in colon cancer development.