Brief Reports
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2005; 11(21): 3285-3289
Published online Jun 7, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i21.3285
Oncogenic role of clusterin overexpression in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression
Dan Xie, Jonathan S.T. Sham, Wei-Fen Zeng, Li-Hong Che, Meng Zhang, Hui-Xi Wu, Han-Liang Lin, Jian-Ming Wen, Sze Hang Lau, Liang Hu, Xin-Yuan Guan
Dan Xie, Wei-Fen Zeng, Li-Hong Che, Meng Zhang, Hui-Xi Wu, Han-Liang Lin, Jian-Ming Wen, Department of Pathology, Zhong Shan Medical College, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510089, Guangdong Province, China
Jonathan S.T. Sham, Sze Hang Lau, Liang Hu, Xin-Yuan Guan, Department of Clinical Oncology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30300401, Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, No. 04009327, and the Leung Kwok Tze Foundation of Hong Kong, China
Correspondence to: Dr. Xin-Yuan Guan, Department of Clinical Oncology, The University of Hong Kong, Room 109, School of Chinese Medicine Building, 10 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong, China. xyguan@hkucc.hku.hk
Telephone: +852-25890458 Fax: +852-28169126
Received: July 28, 2004
Revised: July 29, 2004
Accepted: October 13, 2004
Published online: June 7, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the expression pattern of clusterin in colorectal adenoma-carcinoma-metastasis series, and to explore the potential role of clusterin in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression.

METHODS: A colorectal carcinoma (CRC)-tissue microarray (TMA), which contained 85 advanced CRCs including 43 cases of Dukes B, 21 of Dukes C and 21 of Dukes D tumors, were used for assessing the expression of clusterin (clone 41D) and tumor cell apoptotic index (AI) by immunohist-ochemistry and TUNEL assay, respectively. Moreover the potential correlation of clusterin expression with the patient’s clinical-pathological features were also examined.

RESULTS: The positive staining of clusterin in different colorectal tissues was primarily a cytoplasmic pattern. Cytoplasmic overexpression of clusterin was detected in none of the normal colorectal mucosa, 17% of the adenomas, 46% of the primary CRCs, and 57% of the CRC metastatic lesions. In addition, a significant positive correlation between overexpression of clusterin and advanced clinical (Dukes) stage was observed (P<0.01). Overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs was inversely correlated with tumor apoptotic index (P<0.01), indicating the anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs.

CONCLUSION: These data suggests that overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin might be involved in the tumorigenesis and/or progression of CRCs. The anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin may be responsible, at least in part, for the development and biologically aggressive behavior of CRC.

Keywords: Clusterin; Colorectal tumorigenesis