DBC1 is over-expressed and associated with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer

Background Deleted in breast cancer 1 (DBC1) was initially cloned from a region homozygously deleted in breast cancers, but its role in colorectal cancer remains unknown. The present study aims to examine the expression level of DBC1 and assess its prognostic value in human colorectal cancer. Methods Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression level of DBC1 in a series of 186 colorectal cancer patients. Immunohistochemical staining results were analyzed and compared statistically with various clinicopathological characters and overall survival. Results Compared with the corresponding non-tumor tissues, a higher expression level of DBC1 was detected in colorectal cancer (P < 0.01). Tissue microarray analysis revealed that DBC1 expression is significantly associated with tumor histological grade, TNM stage and metastatic status (P < 0.01). Importantly, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that DBC1 expression is associated with shorter overall survival (P < 0.01). Univariate Cox regression suggested that DBC1 expression, poorly differentiation status and the presence of lymph node metastasis predict shorter overall survival in colorectal cancer (P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that DBC1 acts as an independent prognostic factor in colorectal cancer (P < 0.01). Conclusions These results suggest that DBC1 is over-expressed in colorectal cancer and that it might serve as a predictor for selecting patients at high risk of poor prognosis.