Overall expression of beta-catenin outperforms its nuclear accumulation in predicting outcomes of colorectal cancers

Table 1 Demographic data of the study population and association of studied parameters and overall staining density, n (%)

Parameter	Cases	Overall staining density		P
		Low	High
Sex
Male	80 (49.3)	18 (45.0)	62 (50.8)	0.52
Female	83 (50.6)	22 (55.0)	60 (49.2)
Age (yr)
< 65	87 (53.4)	21 (52.5)	66 (53.7)	0.90
> 65	76 (46.6)	19 (47.5)	57 (47.3)
CEA
< 5 ng/mL	83 (50.9)	25 (62.5)	58 (47.1)	0.09
≥ 5 ng/mL	80 (49.1)	15 (37.5)	65 (52.9)
AJCC staging
Stage 1	20 (12.3)	4 (10.0)	16 (13.0)	0.004
Stage 2	61 (37.4)	11 (27.5)	50 (40.7)
Stage 3	63 (38.7)	14 (35.0)	49 (39.8)
Stage 4	19 (11.7)	11 (27.5)	8 (6.5)
Tumor size
T 0-1	25 (15.3)	5 (12.5)	20 (16.3)	0.57
T 2-3	138 (84.7)	35 (87.5)	103 (83.7)
Nodal status
N0	86 (52.8)	17 (42.5)	69 (56.1)	0.02
N1	39 (23.9)	7 (17.5)	32 (26.0)
N2	38 (23.3)	16 (40.0)	22 (17.8)
Metastatic status
M0	144 (88.3)	29 (72.5)	115 (93.5)	< 0.001
M1	19 (11.7)	11 (27.5)	8 (6.5)
Differentiation
Well	83 (50.9)	19 (47.5)	64 (52.0)	0.02
Moderate	60 (36.8)	11 (27.5)	49 (39.8)
Poor	20 (12.3)	10 (25.0)	10 (8.1)
Staining localization
Nuclear	122 (50.3)	19 (47.5)	63 (51.2)	0.68
Non-nuclear	31 (49.6)	21 (52.5)	60 (48.8)
Staining intensity
Weak to moderate	54 (33.1)	18 (45.0)	34 (28.1)	0.05
Strong to very strong	109 (66.9)	22 (55.0)	87 (71.9)
NSD
Low (< 75%)	101 (47.2)	33 (82.5)	44 (35.8)	< 0.001
High (≥ 75%)	62 (52.8)	7 (17.5)	9 (64.2)

Table 2 Time-points of 5-yr overall survival and disease free survival according to each parameter and P-value of univariate survival analysis with log-rank test

Parameter	5-yr DFS (%)	5-yr OS (%)	Log-rank P
Overall	54	57.7	-
Sex			0.77
Male	50.6	56.3
Female	56.9	58.5
Age (yr)			0.3
< 65	55.7	59.7
≥ 65	52.1	55.3
CEA			0.09
< 5 ng/mL	59.7	65.1
≥ 5 ng/mL	48.2	50.0
AJCC staging			< 0.001
Stage 1	68.6	75.0
Stage 2	81.2	86.9
Stage 3	39.2	41.3
Stage 4	0	0
Tumor size			0.38
T 0-1	61.9	72.0
T 2-3	52.4	55.1
Nodal status			< 0.001
N0	73.1	79.1
N1	42.6	46.1
N2	21	21.1
Metastatic status			< 0.001
M0	61.1	65.2
M1	0	0
Location			0.03
Colon	61.6	65.8
Rectum	46.1	49.4
Differentiation			0.06
Well	61.9	62.0
Moderate	49.4	49.5
Poor	34.2	34.3
Staining localization			0.09
Nuclear	69.2	73.3
Non-nuclear	50.5	54.1
Staining intensity			0.61
Weak to moderate	60.9	65.4
Strong to very strong	50.7	54.1
OSD			< 0.001
Low (< 75%)	34.7	63.4
High (≥ 75%)	60.5	40.0
NSD			0.59
Low (< 75%)	51.1	55.8
High (≥ 75%)	56.5	59.3

OSD: Overall staining density; NAD: Nuclear staining density; OS: Overall survival; DFS: Disease free survival.

Table 3 Intensity-adjusted 5-yr overall survival and disease-free survival by overall staining density and nuclear staining density

Parameter	Intensity-adjusted 5-yr survival
	5-yr DFS (%)	5-yr OS (%)
OSD
Low (< 75%)	34.9	38.2
High (≥ 75%)	73.2	77.8
NSD
Low (< 75%)	55.3	58.4
High (≥ 75%)	68.7	75.7

OS: Overall survival; DFS: Disease free survival; OSD: Overall staining density; NSD: Nuclear staining density.

Table 4 Final Cox’s regression model (P-value of the model < 0.001), Log likelihood = -347.75

Parameter	Hazard ratio	95% CI	P
Nodal status	1.87	1.43-2.44	< 0.001
Metastatic status	7.50	3.89-14.43	< 0.001
OSD	0.51	0.31-0.83	0.007

OSD: Overall staining density.