Development and progression of malignancy in human colon tissues are correlated with expression of specific Ca(2+)-binding S100 proteins.

The expression levels of seven different S100 proteins (S100A1, S100A2, S100A3, S100A4, S100A5, S100A6, and S100B) were characterized by immunohistochemistry in the epithelial versus connective tissues of a series of 35 colon specimens, including 6 normal samples, 5 adenomas with low-grade dysplasia, 5 adenomas with high-grade dysplasia, and 19 cancers. The results showed that S100A2, S100A3, and S100B proteins could not (or only marginally) be detected in colon tissues. On the other hand, the expression of S100A6 increased in epithelial tissues directly proportional to the increase of malignancy. The percentage of epithelial (or connective tissue) cells expressing S100A4 significantly decreased as the malignancy grade increased. The expression level of S100A1 proteins was somewhat higher in the connective tissues of normal cases and adenomas with low-grade dysplasia than in adenomas with high-grade dysplasia and cancers. This pattern of expression was not observed in epithelial tissues. While the node-positive cancers did not express S100A1, about half of the node-negative specimens did. The expression levels of S100A5 were similar in different epithelial tissues. However, in the connective tissues the expression levels decreased inversely proportional to the increase in pathological grading of the specimens. Therefore, the present study implicates several S100 proteins as useful tools for histochemical typing of colon cancer malignancy development.