Prognostic significance of DCC and p27Kip1 in colorectal cancer

The progression of colorectal cancer is a multistage process associated with specific molecular alterations. The stepwise accumulation of these multiple genetic Mutations progressively results in the acquisition of neoplastic cell behavior. The genetic abnormalities associated with the expression of metastatic phenotype, therefore, may be of prognostic significance in the clinical treatment of colorectal cancer patients. In this study, the immunohistochemical expression of the deleted in colorectal cancer gene (DCC) and p27(Kip1) was assessed in 168 paraffin-embedded, formalin-fixed tumors of patients with staae 11 and III colorectal cancer. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and log-rank statistics were used to analyze survival times after curative primary tumor resection, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to adjust the assessment of demographic and clinical covariates. Loss of DCC or p27(Kip1) expression had no influence on survival in patients with stage 11 or I I I colorectal cancer. The 5-year survival rates of DCC-positive and DCC-negative tumors were 51.8% and 35.7% (P = 0.40), respectively. The 5-year survival rate of patients with P27(Kip1) -positive tumors was 47.9%, whereas the rate for patients with p27(Kip1)-negative tumors was 38.8% (P 0.68). After adjustment for all evaluated variables, neither DCC or p27(Kip1) was found to be a predictor of survival (risk ratio for DCC, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.66-1.56; P - 0.92; risk ratio for p27(Kip1), 0.87, 95% confidence interval, 0.58-1.29; P = 0.49). The present study demonstrated that the expression of neither DCC nor p27(Kip1) was predictive in poor survival outcome in patients with stage 11 or III colorectal cancer.