Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy globally. CRC patients with elevated plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) levels exhibit compromised prognoses. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), activating the innate and adaptive immune systems, may contribute to pro- and antitumorigenic inflammatory responses. We aimed to identify a possible link between local and systemic inflammatory responses in CRC patients by investigating the association between tissue TLRs and plasma CRP.Tissue expressions of TLR2, TLR4, TLR5, and TLR7 were assessed using immunohistochemistry of tissue microarray slides from 549 CRC patients surgically treated between 1998 and 2005. Blood samples were drawn preoperatively, centrifuged, aliquoted, and stored at -80°C until analysis. Plasma CRP was determined through high-sensitivity time-resolved immunofluorometric assay. We investigated the association of TLRs to clinicopathologic variables, plasma CRP, and survival.High TLR2 expression (hazard ratio [HR] 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.41-0.85; p = 0.005), high TLR5 expression (HR 0.60; 95% CI 0.45-0.83; p = 0.002), positive TLR7 expression (HR 0.49; 95% CI 0.33-0.72; p < 0.001), and low CRP (HR 1.48; 95% CI 1.08-2.11; p = 0.017) were associated with a better prognosis. A high TLR2 immunoexpression was associated with a better prognosis among low-CRP patients (HR 0.53; 95% CI 0.35-0.80; p = 0.002), high TLR4 expression among high-CRP patients (HR 2.04; 95% CI 1.04-4.00; p = 0.038), high TLR5 expression among low-CRP patients (HR 0.059; 95% CI 0.37-0.92; p = 0.021), and positive TLR7 expression among low-CRP patients (HR 0.53; 95% CI 0.28-1.00; p = 0.049). In multivariate analyses, no biomarkers emerged as significant independent variables.High tissue TLR2, TLR5, and TLR7 levels were associated with a better prognosis. Among low-CRP patients, those with high TLR2, TLR5, and TLR7 immunoexpressions exhibited a better prognosis. Among high CRP patients, a high TLR4 immunoexpression was associated with a better prognosis.
Endogenous sex hormones and DNA methylation both play important roles in various diseases. However, their interplay is largely unknown. A deeper understanding of their interrelationships could provide new insights into the pathology of disease development. We, therefore, investigated associations between circulating sex hormones, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and DNA methylation in blood, using samples from 77 men (65 with repeated samples), from the population-based Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS). DNA methylation was measured in buffy coat using the Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip (Illumina). Sex hormone (oestradiol, oestrone, testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone, and progesterone) and SHBG concentrations were measured in plasma using a high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) method and an enzyme-linked immunoassay, respectively. Associations between sex hormones, SHBG, and DNA methylation were estimated using both linear regression and mixed-effects models. Additionally, we used the comb-p method to identify differentially methylated regions based on nearby P values. We identified one novel CpG site (cg14319657), at which DNA methylation was associated with dehydroepiandrosterone, surpassing a genome-wide significance level. In addition, more than 40 differentially methylated regions were associated with levels of sex hormones and SHBG and several of these mapped to genes involved in hormone-related diseases. Our findings support a relationship between circulating sex hormones and DNA methylation and suggest that further investigation is warranted, both for validation, further exploration and to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and potential consequences for health and disease.
Background: Cachexia and sarcopenia are associated with poor survival after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis. Computed tomography (CT) can be used to measure aspects of cachexia including sarcopenia, myosteatosis and the amount of subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue. The aim of this study was to relate CT-based body composition variables with survival outcomes in CRC. Material and methods: In this population-based, retrospective cohort study, CT scans of 974 patients with pathological stages I–IV CRCs, collected at or very near diagnosis (years 2000–2016), were used to measure cross-sectional fat and muscle tissue areas. Body composition variables based on these measurements were assessed in relation to tumor stage and site and cancer-specific survival in stages I–III CRC (n = 728) using Cox proportional hazards models and Kaplan–Meier estimators. Results: Sarcopenia was associated with decreased cancer-specific survival, especially in patients with stages I–II tumors. The hazard ratio (HR) for the lowest versus highest tertile of skeletal muscle index (SMI) was 1.67; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08–2.58 for all stages, and HR 2.22; 95% CI 1.06–4.68, for stages I–II. Myosteatosis was also associated with decreased cancer-specific survival [(HR 2.03; 95% CI 1.20–3.34 for the lowest versus the highest tertile of skeletal muscle radiodensity (SMR)]. SMI and SMR were lower in patients with right-sided CRC, independent of age and sex. No adipose tissue measurement was significantly associated with cancer-specific survival. Conclusion: In concordance with previous studies, sarcopenia and myosteatosis were associated with decreased cancer-specific survival. The strong association between sarcopenia and poor cancer-specific survival in early-stage disease could have clinical implications for personalizing therapy decisions, including nutritional support.
The diagnosis of gastrointestinal graft versus host disease (GI-GVHD) is based on clinical symptoms and histological findings. In clinical practice, it is often difficult to decide whether abdominal symptoms in an allogeneic transplant recipient are caused by GVHD or other disorders. Endoscopic biopsies are helpful in establishing the diagnosis, but endoscopy is not always possible to perform due to poor general condition of the patients. No biomarkers are routinely used to predict GVHD. The aim of fecal calprotectin and alpha-1 antitrypsin testing in our study was to find out whether determination of the concentrations of these proteins may be used as a screening method for enteric GVHD. We studied prospectively 51 patients, 8 of whom developed GI-GVHD. Our data demonstrate that elevated fecal calprotectin levels were significantly associated with presence of GI-GVHD. We found a positive association between high F-calprotectin and severe gastrointestinal GVHD. In bivariate analysis, only calprotectin but not alpha-1 antitrypsin was independently associated with GI-GVHD. Testing for fecal calprotectin after allogeneic stem cell transplantation may be a useful screening tool.
Lynch syndrome, or hereditary non‐polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), is a cancer susceptibility syndrome caused by germline mutations in mismatch‐repair genes, predominantly MLH1 , MSH2 and MSH6 . A majority of the mutations reported are truncating, but for MSH6 , missense mutations constitute over one third. Few have been proven pathogenic in functional studies or shown to segregate in families. In this study, we show segregation of the putative pathogenic MSH6 missense mutation c.1346T>C p.Leu449Pro with microsatellite instability‐high Lynch syndrome‐related tumours lacking MSH6 expression in a large 17th century pedigree. Another large family with the MSH6 nonsense c.2931C>G, p.Tyr977X mutation is similar in tumour spectra, age of onset and cumulative risk. These MSH6 families, despite their late age of onset, have a high lifetime risk of all Lynch syndrome‐related cancers, significantly higher in women (89% by age 80) than in men (69%). The gender differences are in part explained by high endometrial (70%) and ovarian (33%) cancer risks added upon the high colorectal cancer risk (60%). The several occurrences of breast cancer are not due to the MSH6 mutations. These findings are of great importance for counselling, management and surveillance of families with MSH6 mutations.
Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to relate the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP; characterized by extensive promoter hypermethylation) to cancer-specific survival in colorectal cancer, taking into consideration relevant clinicopathologic factors, such as microsatellite instability (MSI) screening status and the BRAF V600E mutation. Experimental Design: Archival tumor samples from 190 patients from the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS) and 414 patients from the Colorectal Cancer in Umeå Study (CRUMS), including 574 with cancer-specific survival data, were analyzed for an eight-gene CIMP panel using quantitative real-time PCR (MethyLight). MSI screening status was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Results: CIMP-low patients had a shorter cancer-specific survival compared with CIMP-negative patients (multivariate hazard ratio in NSHDS, 2.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-3.37; multivariate hazard ratio in CRUMS, 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.00-2.22). This result was similar in subgroups based on MSI screening status and was statistically significant in microsatellite stable (MSS) tumors in NSHDS. For CIMP-high patients, a shorter cancer-specific survival compared with CIMP-negative patients was observed in the MSS subgroup. Statistical significance was lost after adjusting for the BRAF mutation, but the main findings were generally unaffected. Conclusions: In this study, we found a poor prognosis in CIMP-low patients regardless of MSI screening status, and in CIMP-high patients with MSS. Although not consistently statistically significant, these results were consistent in two separate patient groups and emphasize the potential importance of CIMP and MSI status in colorectal cancer research. Clin Cancer Res; 16(6); 1845–55
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related deaths in western countries. CRC are commonly divided in cancers showing microsatellite stability (MSS) or microsatellite instability (MSI). A more novel classification is dependent on promoter hypermethylation of CpG islands (the CpG island methylator phenotype, CIMP), where cancers show high, low or negative methylation status. SMAD4, located on chromosome 18q, has been thoroughly investigated during the last years. Loss of SMAD4 expression has been reported to correlate with poor CRC patient prognosis. In this study, we analyze the impact of SMAD4 expression on prognosis in relation to MSI screening status and CIMP status. Four hundred and seventy-nine paraffin-embedded specimens of CRC were examined for nuclear SMAD4 expression using immunohistochemistry. The tumors were scored loss (-), moderate (+) and high (++) expressing tumors. Loss of SMAD4 correlated significantly with decreased survival in all colon cancer patients. High SMAD4 expression, however, was significantly associated with increased survival, especially in colon cancer patients, which has undergone potential curative surgery. In addition, in MSI tumors and CIMP-high tumors, high SMAD4 expression was significantly related to increase in survival, while loss of SMAD4 resulted in a significantly poorer prognosis. SMAD4 expression was not correlated to prognosis in rectal cancer cases. We conclude, loss of SMAD4 indicates a poor prognosis in colon cancer patients. The novel findings that high SMAD4 expression predicts a better prognosis suggests that SMAD4 immunohistochemistry could constitute a prognostic marker in combination with CIMP and MSI screening status.
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