Clinicopathologic significance of cyclin A expression in colorectal carcinoma.

The clinical significance of cyclin A expression, which has been known to act in the mitotic phase of the cell cycle, as an indicator of malignant potential in human tumors, has been suggested. The aim of this study was to elucidate the significance of immunohistochemical expression of cyclin A in colorectal carcinomas based on a larger study population. Immunohistochemical staining for cyclin A was performed for 167 colorectal carcinomas and the correlation between cyclin A expression and the clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. One hundred and two carcinomas (61.1%) had cyclin A expression and the other 65 (38.9%) did not. The mean size of the tumors with cyclin A expression was significantly larger than that of tumors without cyclin A expression (p = 0.012). Survival in patients with cyclin A-expressing carcinomas was significantly worse than that in patients with carcinomas without cyclin A expression (p = 0.004). Cyclin A expression (p = 0.030), as well as lymph node metastasis (p = 0.007) and Dukes' stage of the tumors (p < 0.0001) were found to be factors independently associated with unfavorable prognosis in patients with colorectal carcinoma. Our results demonstrated that immunohistochemical expression of cyclin A is an independent prognostic indicator in patients with colorectal carcinoma.