The Expression And Roles Of TWIST And FASCIN In Human Colorectal Cancer

Objective:To explore the relationship between the expression of EMT markers (Twist, Fascin) with different clinicopathologic parameters in human colorectal cancer (CRC), and discussing their function in advanced colorectal cancer.Methods:The real time quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry were adopted to detect the expression of Twist and Fascin in41cases of colorectal cancer specimens,41cases of incisal margin,22cases of lymph node without metastasis and19cases of lymph node with metastasis. All the results were statistically analyzed, and statistical significance was put at two-sided P<0.05.Results:1. The expression of Twist:The result of QRT-PCR showed that the expression of Twist mRNA in colorectal carcinoma was higher than that in tissues of incisal margin(P<0.05). The expression of Twist mRNA was correlated with lymphatic metastasis and tumor TNM staging significantly(P<0.05). According to the results of immunohistochemistry the expression of Twist protein in lymph node with metastasis was higher than that in tissues of incisal margin(P<0.05), and all of which were lower than that in colorectal carcinoma(P<0.05). The expression of Twist protein in the other part of lymph node with metastasis was higher than that in lymph node without metastasis(P<0.05). The expression of Twist protein was correlated with lymphatic metastasis, distant metastasis and TNM staging significantly(P<0.05).2. The expression of Fascin:The results of QRT-PCR showed that the expression of Fascin mRNA in colorectal carcinoma was higher than that in tissues of incisal margin(P<0.05). The expression of Fascin mRNA was correlated with lymphatic metastasis and TNM staging significantly(P<0.05). According to the results of immunohistochemistry the expression of Twist protein in lymph node with metastasis was higher than that in tissues of incisal margin(P<0.05), and all of which were lower than that in colorectal carcinoma(P<0.05). The expression of Fascin protein in the other part of lymph node with metastasis was higher than that in lymph node without metastasis. The expression of Fascin protein was correlated with lymphatic metastasis, distant metastasis and TNM staging significantly(P<0.05).3. There was positive correlation between the mRNA transcription of Twist and Fascin(R=0.762, P=0.000) in CRC, and so did the protein expression (R=0.823, P=0.000).Conclusion:1. The expression of Twist and Fascin in CRC had positive correlationship with the ability of tumor invasiveness and metastasis, which may be usefull in diagnosing and predicting distant metastasis, and provided a potential molecular target therapy for colorectal cancer patients.2. There were positive correlation between the mRNA and protein expression of Twist and Fascin in CRC, which suggested that Twist may up-regulate the expression of Fascin to promote distant metastasis.3. The expression of Twist and Fascin was lower in lymphatic metastasis than that in primary cancer, which implied that the metastasis cancer cells may undertake the retrotransition mesenchymal epithelial transition to acquire the ability to plant and proliferation quickly, and the tumor biological phenotype has a close relationship with the tumor microenvironment.