728 Expression of adhesion molecules related to tumour-progression in colorectal carcinoma: Grading, staging and follow up

Introduction Tumour progression and metastasis is accompanied by altered expression of adhesion molecules. The purpose of this prospective study was to analyse expression of adhesion molecules in colorectal carcinomas based on a cohort derived from a single surgical oncology center. At that end CD44 variant is forms, E-Cadherin, β-Catenin as well as α and β-integrin subunits were investigated both on the mRNA- and on the protein level. Snap frozen samples of normal colorectal mucosa, primary tumours, and metastases were collected from 120 patients during 1992–1994. All data were correlated to TNM-stages and clinical status. Results CD44H is broadly expressed in all tissues. CD44 variant is form expression is transient, being up-regulated as early as in adenomas. Maximum expression is observed in UICC stage III primary tumours, but significant loss of CD44 isoform expression is observed in all sites of metastasis. Adherent junction molecule expression is correlating with histological grading. The same is observed for α-2,3,6- and β-1,3,4-Integrins. Conclusions The strength of expression of various molecules in CRC tissue specimens is correlating with histological grading. Up-regulation of expression during tumour suppression is very rare, while down-regulation accompanying increased de-differentiation is the predominant scheme. Only a few molecules studied in this work match valuable prognostic parameters such as TNM-staging or even survival. These could therefore beneficially contribute to the evaluation of the individual tumour patient's prognosis.