Objective To investigate the change of immunologic gene expression in cases of colorectal cancer with liver metastasis. Methods The total RNAs were extracted from tumor tissues of original lesions in 16 patients with colorectal cancer， DNA microarray was used to examine the change of immunologic gene expression in colorectal cancer patients with or without liver metastasis. Results Compared with samples without liver metastases， the expressions of 11 immunologic genes obviously down-regulated in the tumor tissues of colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis， including：carboxypeptidase D；Fc fragment of IgE， high affinityⅠreceptor for gamma polypeptide；Fc fragment of IgG， low affinityⅢa receptor （CD16a）；free fatty acid receptor 2；interleukin 2 receptor gamma；protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type C；complement factor B；major histocompatibility complex， classⅡ， DM alpha；major histocompatibility complex， classⅡ， DM beta；major histocompatibility complex， classⅡ， DQ alpha 1；granzyme B. The functions involved the growth and activation of immunologic cell， signal transduction， cell apoptotic， cell factors， receptors， complement， apoptotic， and immunogenicity of tumor cell. Conclusions Down-regulation of a various of immunologic gene expression in colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis inhibits the function of immunology， and tumor cells escaped the destruction of immunology system results in metastasis.
Objective To investigate the sensitivity of 5 kinds of chemotherapeutic drugs on human colorectal cancer in vivo. Methods Xenografts in nude mice were set up by tumor tissues from 9 patients with colorectal cancer and nude mice were divided into 6 groups randomly， receiving saline （control group）， 5-fluorouracil （5-FU group）， doxorubicin（ADM group）， mitomycin （MMC group）， oxaliplatin （LOHP group）， and irinotecan （CPT-11 group）， respectively. The inhibitive rates （IR） of xenografts in 5 groups for each patient were calculated. Results The lowest and highest IR of 5 groups were 23.6% and 54.9% in 5-FU group， 23.7% and 69.5% in LOPH group， 23.6% and 82.6% in CPT-11group， 24.1% and 48.1% in MMC group， 5.8% and 20.7% in ADM group， respectively. The IR exceeded 40.0% in 7 patients of LOHP group， 6 patients of CPT-11 group， 4 patients of 5-FU group， and 1 patient of MMC group， respec-tively. Of 9 patients， the IR exceeded 40.0% to 3 kinds of drugs in 3 patients， to 2 kinds of drugs in 4 patients， the IR didn’t exceed 30.0% to 4 kinds of drug （IR was 82.6% to CPT-11） in 1 patient， and the IR didn’t exceed 31.0% to all 5 kinds of drugs in 1 patient. There were statistical differences on the IR of 5 kinds of drugs （H=24.061 2， P=0.000 1）. IR of ADM group was statistical lower than 5-FU group， MMC group， LOHP group， and CPT-11 group （P＜0.05），but there were no statistical differences between 5-FU group， MMC group， LOHP group， and CPT-11 group （P＞0.05）. Conclusions The xenografts from same patient have different sensitivity to different chemotherapy drugs， and the same chemotherapy drug corresponds to different IR in different patients. The IR of LOHP and CPT-11 are the highest， following by 5-FU and MMC.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical significance of CK20 mRNA expression in blood of patients with colorectal cancer. MethodsThe expressions of CK20 mRNA in blood of twenty healthy volunteers, ten patients with colorectal polyp and sixtyone patients with colorectal cancer were detected by RT-PCR. ResultsThe positive rate of CK20 mRNA in peripheral venous blood and portal venous blood of patients with colorectal cancer were 41.0%(25/61) and 45.9%(28/61), which was not significantly different (Pgt;0.05). The expression of CK20 mRNA in patients with colorectal cancer was associated with clinical TNM stage of tumor, local lymph node metastasis, distance metastasis, and the depth of invasion (Plt;0.05). No expression of CK20 mRNA was detected in blood of twenty healthy volunteer’s and ten patients with colorectal polyp. ConclusionCK20 is a specific marker for detecting blood micrometastasis of colorectal cancer. The expression of CK20 mRNA in blood of patients with colorectal cancer is related with TNM stage, invasion, and metastasis of colorectal cancer.
ObjectiveTo explore the changes of cytokines in the tumor microenvironment of colorectal cancer and the relationship between the expression of CD16a mRNA and cytokines in the microenvironment.MethodsRT-PCR and flow cytometry microsphere array (CBA) were used to detect the expressions of CD16a mRNA, as well as cytokines of Th1 ［interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, and interferone-γ (IFN-γ)］, Th2 (IL-4, IL-6, and IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the tumor and the adjacent tissues of 42 patients with colorectal cancer, respectively, and the correlation between the expression of CD16a mRNA and cytokines in the microenvironment was analyzed.ResultsThe expressions of IL-6, TNF-α, and VEGF in colorectal cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in the adjacent tissues (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression of IL-2,IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, and IFN-γ between the two kinds of tissues (P>0.05). Clinicopathological factor analysis showed that, the levels of IL-6 and VEGF in the colorectal cancer patients with preoperative normal CEA were significantly higher than those with elevated CEA (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that the expression of IL-6 was negatively correlated with expression of CD16a mRNA (P<0.05).ConclusionsThe expressions of IL-6, TNF-α, and VEGF in tumor tissues were significantly higher than adjacent tissues, and the effect of angiogenic and immunosuppression were enhanced. The expression of CD16a mRNA in the microenvironment of colorectal cancer tumor is negatively correlated with the expression of IL-6.