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| Purpose and methods: Functional interaction between DNA methyltransferase I (DNMT1) and p53 has been shown in many cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, few studies have investigated the relationship between DNMT1 and p53 expression and clinicopathological parameters in CRC. Here we report a retrospective analysis that examined the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of DNMT1 and p53 expression in 161 surgically resected CRC patients from January 2003 to December 2007 by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry.
Results: DNMT1 and p53 were over-expressed in 72.7% and 62.7% of cases, respectively, and was associated with advanced tumor stage. Poor histological differentiation and neural invasion were related to patients with higher DNMT1 and p53 expression, respectively. Moreover, a positive correlation between the expression of DNMT1 and P53 was found. Combined analysis of DNMT1 and p53 expression showed that 49.1% of the tumors displayed DNMT1+/p53+ phenotype which was significantly associated with advanced tumor stage. Furthermore, although neither DNMT1 nor p53 expression individually or in combination was of independent prognostic significance, DNMT1+/p53+ phenotype is significantly correlated with a subset of patients with definitively poor prognoses.
Conclusion: These data provide evidence that DNMT1 and p53 are involved in the development and progression of CRC, and may serve as biomarkers to evaluate the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of CRC. |
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| Keywords:DNMT1; p53; Colorectal cancer; Immunohistochemistry; Tissue microarray; Survival |
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