Expression of p53, Ki-67 and c-Myc proteins is predictive of the surgical molecular margin in colorectal carcinoma.

Surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment for colorectal carcinoma, however, the overall survival is modest due to frequent local recurrence from residual cancer cells after "curative" resection. Therefore, the status of surgical margin (tumor free or positive) has a significant influence on patient's survival. The difference in molecular profile between mucosa neighboring tumor lesions and remote area (surgical margin) may aid in evaluating resection status. 44 colorectal tumor tissues with corresponding adjacent non-neoplastic mucosa (within 3 cm from tumor tissues), and 110 tumor tissues with corresponding surgical margin mucosa (5 cm from tumor tissues) were randomly collected, fixed in 10% formalin and followed by embedding in paraffin. And the expression of p53, Ki-67 and c-Myc were investigated by tissue microarray (TMA) and immunohistochmistry. The expression of p53, Ki-67 and c-Myc were decreased in both adjacent non-neoplastic mucosa and mucosa of surgical margin, comparing to their expression in corresponding cancer cells. Furthermore, the expression of these proteins in mucosa of remote area (surgical margin) was significantly lower than those adjacent to tumor lesions. The expression of p53, Ki-67 and c-Myc in mucosa can be used as molecular marker for assessing surgical margin status in colorectal carcinoma.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes