Adrenomedullin is involved in the progression of colonic adenocarcinoma.

Adrenomedullin (ADM), initially identified in human pheochromocytoma, participates in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes, including vasorelaxation, angiogenesis and apoptosis. Recent studies have reported that ADM protected tumor cells against apoptotic cell death via the upregulation of Bcl-2 or the activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway. Several studies have also provided evidence that ADM is involved in tumor initiation and progression. However, this has not been shown in gastrointestinal tumors. To investigate the role of ADM in gastrointestinal tumor progression, we determined the expression levels of ADM in 72 cases of stomach cancer and 84 cases of colon cancer and determined whether there was an association between the ADM expression levels and pathological parameters or clinical survival rates. We found that the expression levels of ADM were significantly higher in colon cancers than in matching normal mucosal tissues. In addition, the expression levels of ADM in colon cancers were correlated with cancer stage and clinical survival rate. However, we did not find any significant correlations between ADM expression levels and clinical or pathological parameters in stomach cancers. Taken together, our data strongly suggest that ADM is involved in the progression of colon cancer.