The Research On The Correlation Between PTEN Expression And Colon Cancer Patients Liver Metastasis

Objective:The tumour suppressor phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is an important negative regulator of cell-survival signaling, we investigated PTEN expression in colon cancer and colon cancer liver metastases, in order to evaluate the correlation between PTEN expression and clinicopathological characteristics of colon cancer patients with and without liver metastases.Methods:Forty-two primary colon cancer and corresponding liver metastasis specimens were analyzed immunohistochemically, and the correlation between immunohistochemical findings and clinicopathological factors was investigated. Forty-three primary colon cancer specimens from patients without liver metastases were investigated as controls. At the same time, Forty-one normal colon tissue specimens through colonoscope superscription were investigated as controls. All the research objects were divided into colon cancer without liver metastases group, colon cancer with liver metastases group and normal group.Results:PTEN was strongly expressed in 26 (60.5%) colon cancer specimens from patients without liver metastases, and PTEN was weakly expressed in 17 (39.5%) colon cancer specimens from patients without liver metastases. In contrast, PTEN was strongly expressed in 12 (28.6%) colon cancer specimens from patients with liver metastases,and PTEN was weakly expressed in 30 (71.4%) colon cancer specimens from patients with liver metastases, and was absent in liver metastases. Specifically, PTEN was strongly expressed in 41 (100.0%) colon normal specimens from normal group. PTEN expression was significantly stronger in colon normal specimens than colon cancer specimens from patients without liver metastases and colon cancer specimens from patients with liver metastases; and PTEN expression was significantly stronger in colon cancer specimens from patients without liver metastases than colon cancer specimens from patients with liver metastases. Weak PTEN expression in colon cancer tissues was significantly associated with advanced TNM stage (p< 0.01) and lymph node metastasis (p< 0.05). Among colon cancer patients with liver metastases, the survival rate was significantly higher in patients with strong PTEN expression compared to those with weak PTEN expression (p=0.023).Conclusions:Among colon cancer patients with liver metastases, low level of PTEN expression is involved with strong aggressive capacity. The diagnostic evaluation of PTEN expression may provide valuable prognostic information to aid treatment strategies for colon cancer patients.