HMGI(Y) gene expression in colorectal cancer: comparison with some histological typing, grading, and clinical staging.

We investigated HMGI(Y) gene expression in 81 pairs of frozen samples obtained from colorectal carcinomas and adjacent normal colorectal mucosas and in four samples from colorectal mucosa from patients without neoplastic diseases. In this group, HMGI(Y)-positive/-negative expression was compared with some histological features, grading, and clinical staging of neoplasms investigated to assess its potential role as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer. Expression of HMGI(Y) gene was found in 51 of 81 cases of colorectal cancers, while, in normal mucosa, expression of this gene was not observed. HMGI(Y) gene expression was associated with more advanced tumors (T3, T4) and metastases to lymph nodes (N1, N2). The most interesting finding was that expression of this gene correlated with distant metastases. HMGI(Y) gene expression was detected in all cases classified as M1 (n = 19, p = 0.0008). We did not find any association between age, gender, tumor localization, histological type and this gene expression.