SOX9 som biomarkør for cancerstamceller i coloncancer

Resume Indledning: Coloncancer er en af de hyppigste cancerformer i den vestlige verden, og der soges kontinuerligt at forbedre behandlingsmulighederne. I de senere ar har forskningen vist interesse for cancerstamceller, og studier soger at finde biomarkorer i form af stamcellemarkorer. I dette projekt undersoges hypotesen om, hvorvidt stamcellemarkoren SOX9 kan anvendes som biomarkor til at forudsige risikoen for recidiv hos patienter med stadium II colon cancer. Metode: Vaevsprover fra patienter med coloncancer stadium II blev undersogt ved immunhistokemisk analyse. Resultaterne blev testet statistisk ved χ2-test, samt Kaplan-Meier overlevelseskurver. Resultater: Ingen tydelig sammenhaeng mellem ekspressionsniveauet for SOX9 og risikoen for recidiv blev observeret, ligesom der heller ikke blev fundet sammenhaenge mellem forskellige klinisk-patologiske faktorer og SOX9-niveauet. Diskussion og konklusion: Analysen af patientdata viser, at datasaettet ikke er repraesentativt i forhold til den generelle population. Projektet understotter dog, at stamcellemarkorer sasom SOX9 kan vaere relevant for diagnosticering samt valg af fremadrettet behandling. Projektet forholder sig til diagnostiske aspekter, der kan forbindes med SOX9, og belyser saledes, hvilken rolle SOX9-niveauet vil kunne have i forbedring af behandling af coloncancer stadium II. Abstract Introduction: Colon cancer is one of the most frequent forms of cancer in the Western world and there is an ongoing search to improve treatments. In recent years, research has shown interest in cancer stem cells, in the attempt to find novel biomarkers using stem cell markers. This study investigates whether the intestinal stem cell marker SOX9 can be used as a biomarker for predicting the risk of relapse in patients with stage II colon cancer. Methods: Tissue samples from patients was examined by immunohistochemical analysis. The results were tested statistically by the χ2-test, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Results: There was no obvious correlation observed between the level of expression of SOX9 and the risk of relapse, just as no correlations between various clinicopathological factors and SOX9 levels was found. Discussion and Conclusion: The analysis of patient data shows that the data set was not representative when compared to the general population. The study supports, however, that stem cell markers such as SOX9 may be relevant in the diagnostics and in the choice of prospective treatment. The project relates to the diagnostic aspects that can be associated with SOX9, and thus illustrates the role that the level of SOX9 expression may have on improving the treatment of colon cancer stage II.