TYMS serves as a prognostic indicator to predict the lymph node metastasis in Chinese patients with colorectal cancer

Objective: The current study is to evaluate the effect of thymidylate synthase (TYMS) on lymph node metastasis (LNM) in Chinese colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, and develop potential LNM-associated biomarkers for CRC. Design and methods: Differences in TYMS gene expression between primary CRC with LNM (LNM CRC) and without LNM (non-LNM CRC) were assessed using quantitative real-time PCR analysis in 100 Chinese colorectal cancer patients. The relationship between clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of candidate biomarkers was also examined in the experiment. Results: TYMS was significantly upregulated in LNM CRC compared with non-LNM CRC, which was confirmed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Overexpression of TYMS was significantly associated with LNM (P < 0.001), advanced TNM stage (P < 0.001), increased 5-year recurrence rate (P < 0.001) and decreased 5-year overall survival rate (P < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that TYMS expression was an independent prognostic factor for recurrence and survival of CRC patients (P < 0.05). Conclusions: TYMS effect on lymph node metastasis in CRC might serve as a potential biomarker for LNM and a prognostic factor in CRC. Over-expression of TYMS is a predicting factor to the poor outcome in clinical colorectal cancer patients. (c) 2013 The Authors. The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.