Serum Expression of β-Catenin Is a Potential Detection Marker in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Object. To investigate the correlation between the level of serum beta-catenin and the disease progression of colorectal polyp (CRP) and colorectal cancer (CRC) and find its potential diagnostic value. Methods. A total of 327 clinical serum samples and their electronic medical records were collected. Detecting by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the correlations of serum beta-catenin with tumor marker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CRC clinicopathological parameters and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were analyzed. Results. Serum beta-catenin levels in the CRP and CRC patients were significantly higher than those in the healthy control (HC) group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001). Compared with CRP, serum beta-catenin level in CRC was also increased (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in gender, age, location, tumor size, Dukes staging, or metastasis (P > 0.05) between serum beta-catenin and clinical parameters of CRC. There was no correlation between serum beta-catenin levels and CEA in CRC patients (P = 0.14). ROC curve analysis showed that serum beta-catenin possessed the maximum diagnostic efficiency in CRP (AUC = 0.73, P < 0.05) with 86.41% sensitivity and 51.56% specificity. beta-Catenin combined with CEA had the highest diagnostic efficiency (AUC = 0.88, P < 0.05) with 81.88% sensitivity and 73.44% specificity. With CRC patients from CRP patients, ROC analysis of the combining detection (AUC = 0.70, P < 0.05) had the 70% sensitivity and 84.5% specificity. Conclusion. The serum beta-catenin levels are gradually increased in CRP and CRC, while there is no correlation between its levels and CRC disease process. Single serum beta-catenin or combined CEA would be one of the potential candidate biomarkers for colorectal disease diagnosis.