Prognostic Value Of The Thymidine Phosphorylase Protein Expression In Colorectal Cancer

Background And Objective Many factors are considered to be associated with the prognosis of colorectal cancer. Angiogenesis has been recognized as a factor related to the tumor growth and metastasis. Thymidine phosphorylase(TP) is a newly found angiogenesis factor that expresses in many tumor tissues. At present,the relationship between the growth and metastasis of the tumor and the role of TP in the induction of tumor neovascularity and anti-apoptosis has become the focus of research. The affects of TP expression on prognosis of colorectal cancer remains uncertain. In the current research, we detected the expression level of TP in human colorectal cancer, analysed its correlations with various pathology features and prognosises, and the clinical significance were evaluated.Methods Surgically removed specimens of 42 cases of colorectal cancer were obtained from patients who were treated between 2003.8 and 2005.10 at the Department of General Surgery of Anhui Provincial Hospital. Of the 42 patients, 27 were male, 15 female. The ages of the patients ranged from 25-74 years, with a mean age of 54 years. TP expression level were detected by immunohistochemical staining. All the patients were followed up. Statistical analysis were performed using the SPSS13.0 software package. Data of the TP protein expressions were examined byχ~2-test; prognosis concerned univariate analysises were performed by Kaplan-meier curve and were checked by log-rank test; prognosis concerned multivariate analysis were performed by Cox proportion hazard regression model. Differences were considered to be significant at P < 0.05.Results Positive expression of TP were detected in the cytoplasm of tumor cells in 26 patients(61.90%). The expression level of TP shows a statistical difference between the patients of different Dukes stages and between different histopathology grades as well(χ~2=6.528,P=0.011和χ~2=14.143,P=0.000). Kaplan-meier survival rate analysis shows that patients with positive TP expression had a 5-year survival rate of 15.4% while patients with negative TP expression 87.5%. there's a significant statistical difference of long-term survival between them(P=0.000). This result indicates a worse prognosis of patients with positive TP expression than that of patients with negative TP expression.Conclusion Over-expresion of TP indicates a bad prognosis of patients of colorectal cancer. TP expression might serve as a independent prognostic factor of colorectal cancer.