Increased expression of BPI fold-containing family A member 1 is associated with metastasis and poor prognosis in human colorectal carcinoma.

Bactericidal or permeability-increasing protein fold-containing family A member 1 (BPIFA1) has been demonstrated to be involved in inflammatory responses in the upper airway and the progression of non-small cell lung cancer. However, the expression levels of BPIFA1 and its clinical prognostic significance in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) has not yet been elucidated. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry were used to analyze the expression levels of BPIFA1 in CRC and normal mucosal tissues. The associations between BPIFA1 expression levels and clinicopathological characteristics, and its predictive value for prognosis in CRC, were statistically evaluated as appropriate. The expression levels of BPIFA1 were revealed to be upregulated at the transcriptional and translational levels in CRC tissues, compared with in normal mucosal tissues. A high expression level of BPIFA1 is significantly associated with invasion depth (P=0.040), lymph node metastasis (P=0.035) and distant metastasis (P=0.010). Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that BIPFA1 overexpression is associated with short survival time, and the Cox proportional hazards model of risk analysis indicated that BPIFA1 is an independent prognostic factor for patients with CRC. The results of the present study suggested that BPIFA1 expression is upregulated in CRC tissues, and that an increased expression level of BPIFA1 is associated with tumor invasion, metastasis and poor prognosis, indicating that BPIFA1 may be a potential clinical prognostic predictor and therapeutic target for patients with CRC.