Clinicopathologic significance of GLUT1 expression and its correlation with Apaf-1 in colorectal adenocarcinomas

Table 1 Glucose transporter 1 expression in normal mucosa, tubular adenomas, adenocarcinomas, and metastatic lesions (n = 718)

Tissue samples	n	Expression of GLUT1				P value
		Negative (%)	Low (%)	Moderate (%)	High (%)	(χ2-test)
Normal mucosa	26	26 (100.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	< 0.0011
Tubular adenomas with LGD	26	21 (80.8)	5 (19.2)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
Tubular adenomas with HGD	24	10 (41.7)	9 (37.5)	5 (20.8)	0 (0.0)
Adenocarcinomas	515	92 (17.9)	75 (14.6)	161 (31.2)	187 (36.3)
Metastatic lesions	127	31 (24.4)	15 (11.8)	22 (17.3)	59 (46.5)

¹: χ² test for linear trend. LGD: Low grade dysplasia; HGD: High grade dysplasia; GLUT1: Glucose transporter 1; Metastatic lesions; lymph nodes and distant organs.

Table 2 Correlation between glucose transporter 1 expression and clinicopathologic factors in colorectal adenocarcinomas (n = 515) n (%)

Factors	n	Expression of GLUT1
		< 50% (%)	≥ 50% (%)	P value
		(n = 328)	(n = 187)
Age (yr)				0.0691
< 58	244	164 (67.2)	80 (32.8)
≥ 58	271	164 (60.5)	107 (39.5)
Gender				0.0091
Male	293	200 (68.3)	93 (31.7)
Female	222	128 (57.7)	94 (42.3)
Tumor location				0.5061
Colon	266	169 (63.5)	97 (36.5)
Rectum	249	159 (63.9)	90 (36.1)
Tumor size (cm)				0.5071
< 5.7	282	180 (63.8)	102 (36.2)
≥ 5.7	233	148 (63.5)	85 (36.5)
Tumor gross				0.2161
Fungating	239	157 (65.7)	82 (34.3)
Infiltrative	276	171 (62.0)	105 (38.0)
Tumor type				0.0451
Non-mucinous	489	307 (62.8)	182 (37.2)
Mucinous	26	21 (80.8)	5 (19.2)
Differentiation				0.0012
Well	21	19 (90.5)	2 (9.5)
Moderate	386	252 (65.3)	134 (34.7)
Poor	108	57 (52.8)	51 (47.2)
T category				0.2262
Tis, T1	16	13 (81.3)	3 (18.8)
T2	35	22 (62.9)	13 (37.1)
T3	452	286 (63.3)	166 (36.7)
T4	12	7 (58.3)	5 (41.7)
N category				< 0.0012
N0	226	170 (75.2)	56 (24.8)
N1	130	73 (56.2)	57 (43.8)
N2	159	85 (53.5)	74 (46.5)
M category				0.1451
M0	495	318 (64.2)	177 (35.8)
M1	20	10 (50.0)	10 (50.0)
AJCC stage				< 0.0012
0, I	41	30 (73.2)	11 (26.8)
IIA, IIB	183	139 (76.0)	44 (24.0)
IIIA, IIIB, IIIC	271	149 (55.0)	122 (45.0)
IV	20	10 (50.0)	10 (50.0)
Dukes stage				< 0.0012
A	12	10 (83.3)	2 (16.7)
B1, B2	208	156 (75.0)	52 (25.0)
C1, C2	275	152 (55.3)	123 (44.7)
D	20	10 (50.0)	10 (50.0)
Apaf-1				0.001
Negative	401	241 (60.1)	160 (39.9)
Positive	114	87 (76.3)	27 (23.7)

¹Fisher’s exact test,

²: χ² test for linear trend. GLUT1: Glucose transporter 1; Apaf-1: Apoptosis-activating factor-1.

Table 3 Survival analyses of variables predicting the risk of death with colorectal adenocarcinomas

Variables	Significance univariate1	Significance multivariate2	Hazard ratio	95% CI
Overall survival
GLUT1 expression (< 50% vs≥ 50%)	0.047	0.534	1.101	0.813-1.491
Patient age (< 58 yr vs≥ 58 yr)	< 0.001	< 0.001	1.884	1.389-2.555
Differentiation (low vs high)	< 0.001	< 0.001	1.846	1.344-2.536
AJCC stage (0, I, II vs III, IV)	< 0.001	< 0.001	2.715	1.909-3.863
Vascular invasion (absent vs present)	0.001	0.005	2.993	1.393-6.430
Disease free survival
GLUT1 expression (< 50% vs≥ 50%)	0.021	0.416	1.118	0.855-1.461
Patient age (< 58 yr vs≥ 58 yr)	0.002	0.003	1.497	1.150-1.947
Differentiation (low vs high)	< 0.001	0.002	1.593	1.193-2.126
AJCC stage (0, I, II vs III, IV)	< 0.001	< 0.001	2.940	2.161-3.999
Vascular invasion (absent vs present)	0.014	0.035	2.264	1.057-4.848

¹Log-rank test;

²Cox proportional hazards model. GLUT1: Glucose transporter 1; CI: Confidence interval.