Predicting prognosis of rectal cancer patients with total mesorectal excision using molecular markers

Table 1 Summary of clinicopathological data (n = 259)

Characteristics	Cases (%)
Gender
Male	146 (56.4)
Female	113 (43.6)
Age (yr)
Range	18-80
Median	56
Tumor location
> 10 cm1	62 (23.9)
7-10 cm1	115 (44.4)
5-7 cm1	82 (31.7)
Mean Max diameter (cm)	4.68
Pathology
Adenocarcinoma	236 (91.1)
Mucinous aden3	18 (6.9)
Signet ring ca3	5 (2)
T stage
T1	18 (7.0)
T2	83 (32.0)
T3	85 (32.8)
T4	73 (28.2)
N stage
N0	147 (56.8)
N1	62 (23.9)
N2	50 (19.3)
TNM stage (AJCC/UICC)
I	80 (30.9)
II	67 (25.9)
III	112 (43.2)
Lymphovascular invasion
Yes	33 (12.7)
No	226 (87.3)
Neural invasion
Yes	21 (8.1)
No	238 (91.9)
Pre-operative CEA2
Positive	48 (18.5)
Negative	211 (81.5)
Adjuvant therapy
S	167 (64.5)
S + C	92 (35.5)

¹Distance of the tumor from anal verge;

²In our hospital lab, CEA > 10 μg/L is considered positive. S: surgery; C: chemotherapy.

Table 2 Distribution of stage II or III patients with or without adjuvant chemotherapy

		Adjuvant chemotherapy(n = 179)				P
		No		Yes
		Cases	%	Cases	%
N staging	N0	114	68.2	33	35.9	< 0.05
	N1	33	19.8	29	31.5
	N2	20	12	30	32.4
T staging	T1-2	90	53.9	11	12	< 0.05
	T3	38	22.7	47	51
	T4	39	23.4	34	37
Differentiation	High-Medium	145	86.8	77	83.7	> 0.05
	Low	22	13.2	15	16.3
Lymphovascular invasion	None	19	11.4	14	15.6	> 0.05
	Yes	148	88.6	78	84.4
Neural invasion	None	14	8.4	7	7.6	> 0.05
	Yes	154	91.6	85	92.4

Table 3 Association between IHC and clinicopathological data

Characteristics		P53 (n)			P21 (n)			PCNA (n)			CD44 (n)
		+	-	P	+	-	P	+	-	P	+	-	P
Tumor location	High	29	33	NS	53	9	NS	36	26	NS	32	30	NS
	Median	53	62		93	22		70	45		63	52
	Low	36	46		63	19		53	29		34	48
Pathology	Adeno.	109	127	NS	191	45	< 0.05	144	92	NS	117	119	NS
	Muci	8	10		16	2		13	5		11	7
	Signet	1	4		2	3		2	3		1	4
TNM stage	I	34	46	NS	59	21	NS	47	33	NS	37	43	NS
	II	30	37		58	9		42	25		33	34
	III	54	58		92	20		70	42		59	53
Invasion depth	T1-2	46	55	NS	74	27	0.052	63	38	NS	46	55	NS
	T3	36	49		72	13		55	30		43	42
	T4	36	37		63	10		41	32		40	33
Lymphnode meta.	N0	64	83	NS	117	30	NS	89	58	NS	70	77	NS
	N1-2	54	58		92	20		70	42		59	53
Lymph-vascular invasion	+	17	16	NS	25	8	NS	21	12	NS	19	14	NS
	-	101	125		184	42		138	88		110	116
Neural invasion	+	11	10	NS	18	3	NS	15	6	NS	11	10	NS
	-	107	131		191	47		44	94		118	120
Preoperative CEA	+	18	30	NS	41	7	NS	30	18	NS	109	102	NS
	-	100	111		168	42		129	82		20	28

Adeno: adenocarcinoma; Muci: mucinous adenocarcinoma; Signet: signet ring adenocarcinoma; Meta: metastasis; NS: not significant.

Table 4 Variables association with overall survival, DFS, recurrence and metastasis

	n	Survival		DFS		Local recurrence		Metastasis
		%	P	%	P	%	P	%	P
Gender
Male	146	85.6	NS	78.1	< 0.05	5.5	NS	16.4	NS
Female	113	89.4		87.6		2.7		9.7
Tumor location			NS		NS		NS
High	62	88.7		85.5		3.2		12.9
Medium	115	87.8		83.5		6.1		10.4	NS
Low	82	85.4		80.5		2.4		18.3
Pathology			< 0.05		< 0.05		< 0.05
Adenocarcinoma	236	87.7		83.9		3.8		13.1
Mucinous cancer	18	94.4		83.3		5.6		11.1	NS
Signet ring cancer	5	40		40		20		40
Differentiation
High-medium	222	87.4	NS	82.9	NS	4.1	NS	13.1	NS
Low	37	86.5		78.4		5.4		16.2
TNM staging			< 0.05		< 0.05		< 0.05
I	80	95		92.5		1.3		6.3
II	67	92.5		89.6		1.5		9.0	< 0.05
III	112	78.6		70.3		8		21.4
Invasion depth			< 0.05		<0.05		NS
T1-2	101	95.0		91.1		2		6.9
T3	85	83.5		78.8		4.7		16.5	< 0.05
T4	73	80.8		75.3		6.8		19.2
N staging			< 0.05		< 0.05		< 0.05
N0	147	93.9		91.2		1.4		7.5	< 0.05
N1-2	112	78.6		72.3		8.0		21.4
Lymphvascular invasion			NS		NS		NS
+	33	81.8		78.8		6.1		15.2
-	226	88.1		83.6		4		13.3	NS
Neural invasion					NS		NS
+	21	85.7	NS	85.7		4.8		14.3
-	238	87.4		82.8		4.2		13.4	NS
Preoperative CEA			0.06		< 0.05		NS
+	48	20.8		31.3		6.3		25
-	211	10.9		14.7		3.8		10.9	< 0.05
P53			NS		NS
+	118	84.4		80.9		6.4	0.06	13.5	NS
-	141	90.7		85.6		1.7		13.6
P21			NS		NS		NS
+	209	87.6		81.8		4.3		13.9	NS
-	50	86		84		4.0		12.0
PCNA			NS		NS		NS	12.6
+	159	89.3		84.3		3.1		15.0	NS
-	100	84.0		81.0		6.0
CD44			< 0.05		< 0.05		NS
+	129	82.9		76.7		6.2		17.1	0.97
-	130	91.5		87.8		2.3		10.0

NS: not significant.