Browsing by Author "Lindström, Alexander"

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies worldwide. Several biomarkers have been suggested for improved prognostic evaluation, but few methods have been implemented in clinical practice. Astroprincin (APCN) is a recently discovered transmembrane glycoprotein. It is shown to correlate with invasive growth behaviour of melanoma and breast cancer. Aim: To evaluate the value of APCN expression as a prognostic marker in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Our cohort included 840 patients surgically treated between 1983 and 2001. Immunohistochemical expression of APCN was successfully evaluated in 739 patients. APCN expression and association with clinicopathological parameters and patient survival was assessed. Results: Strong positive staining was seen in 82 tumors (11.1 %), moderately positive in 288 (39%), weakly positive in 333 (45.1%), and negative in 36 (4.9%). High APCN expression associated with high tumour stage (p < 0.001). Patients with high tumor expression of APCN had a significantly worse disease specific survival (DSS) than those with APCN negative or weakly positive tumor (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis APCN expression was an independent marker of poor prognosis. Conclusions: APCN is an independent prognostic marker in colorectal cancer and might be useful as a prognostic tool in colorectal cancer.