AIMS: Mitochondrial Tu translation elongation factor (TUFM) is a nuclear encoded protein that participates in mitochondrial polypeptide translation. TUFM has been reported to be over-expressed in many tumour types including colorectal carcinoma (CRC) by proteomics. The present study aims to examine the prognostic implication of TUFM in CRC. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining was performed in tissue microarrays composed of 123 cases of CRC using a polyclonal anti-TUFM antibody. Immunoreactivity was quantified using Image-Pro plus software, and analysed in association with patients' clinicopathological parameters and survival time. RESULTS: The immunoreactivity of TUFM was negative in 25%, weak in 50% and strong in 25% of CRC cases. TUFM immunoreactivity had no significant association with the clinicopathological parameters examined including TNM stage and grade. However, strong TUFM expression significantly correlated with a higher 5-year recurrence rate (p = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with strong TUFM expression had significantly shorter cancer-specific survival than patients with negative TUFM (log-rank test, p = 0.038). In multivariate analysis, strong TUFM expression remained a stage-independent unfavourable prognostic indicator (p = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS: Increased expression of TUFM is a promising new prognostic indicator for CRC. Selective inhibition of TUFM in tumour cells may present a new avenue for the targeted therapy of this cancer.
AIMS: Mitochondrial Tu translation elongation factor (TUFM) is a nuclear encoded protein that participates in mitochondrial polypeptide translation. TUFM has been reported to be over-expressed in many tumour types including colorectal carcinoma (CRC) by proteomics. The present study aims to examine the prognostic implication of TUFM in CRC. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining was performed in tissue microarrays composed of 123 cases of CRC using a polyclonal anti-TUFM antibody. Immunoreactivity was quantified using Image-Pro plus software, and analysed in association with patients' clinicopathological parameters and survival time. RESULTS: The immunoreactivity of TUFM was negative in 25%, weak in 50% and strong in 25% of CRC cases. TUFM immunoreactivity had no significant association with the clinicopathological parameters examined including TNM stage and grade. However, strong TUFM expression significantly correlated with a higher 5-year recurrence rate (p = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with strong TUFM expression had significantly shorter cancer-specific survival than patients with negative TUFM (log-rank test, p = 0.038). In multivariate analysis, strong TUFM expression remained a stage-independent unfavourable prognostic indicator (p = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS: Increased expression of TUFM is a promising new prognostic indicator for CRC. Selective inhibition of TUFM in tumour cells may present a new avenue for the targeted therapy of this cancer.
Authors: A Ingels; M Hew; F Algaba; O J de Boer; R J A van Moorselaar; S Horenblas; P Zondervan; J J M C H de la Rosette; M Pilar Laguna Pes Journal: World J Urol Date: 2016-05-20 Impact factor: 4.226