Co-overexpression of self-renewal markers SALL4 and HIWI is correlated with depth of tumor invasion and metastasis in colorectal cancer

Background SALL4 and HIWI are involved in the maintenance of self-renewal capacity of stem cells. Several scrutinizes have demonstrated that SALL4 and HIWI play a key role in cancer development. However, the correlation between these genes regarding different clinicopathological features of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is still unclear. Methods The expression of SALL4 and HIWI in different clinicopathological features of 46 CRC patients was analyzed using relative comparative real-time PCR. Results mRNA expression levels of SALL4 and HIWI genes were significantly correlated with each other in CRC (P = 0.013, Pearson correlation = 0.364). HIWI expression was notably increased in tumors with overexpression of SALL4 in comparison with other samples. This correlation was significant in non-metastatic CRCs compared to the metastatic tumors and in invaded tumors to the serosa (T3/T4) in comparison with non-invaded tumors (T1/T2). Conclusions Based on the significant association of SALL4 and HIWI in different indices of CRC poor prognosis, it may be concluded that simultaneous expression of these genes is notably contributed to the growth and development of the disease, and therefore, their co-overexpression may be considered for prognosis of aggressive CRCs.