Background and objective: Responses and prognosis vary in patients with colon cancer of the same stage using the same therapeutic strategy. Finding a good marker to predict the prognosis is necessary. This study was to explore the correlations of Survivin and matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) expression to the prognosis and clinicopathologic features of colon cancer.
Methods: Clinical data of 620 colon cancer patients, treated in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from January 1995 to May 2003, were analyzed. The expression of Survivin and MMP-7 in the 620 specimens of colon cancer was detected by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. Correlations of Survivin and MMP-7 expression to the prognosis and clinicopathologic features were analyzed.
Results: The positive rates of survivin and MMP-7 were significantly higher in colon cancer than in normal colon mucosa (41.0% vs. 0, P<0.001; 88.8% vs. 40.9%, P<0.05). There was no relationship between Survivin expression and patients' age, sex, tumor location, gross and histological type, grade, size of colon cancer. The positive rate of Survivin was significantly higher in advanced colon cancer than in early stage colon cancer (P<0.05). There was no relationship between MMP-7 expression and all clinicopathologic factors of colon cancer. Cox untivariate and multivariate regression analyses showed that survivin and MMP-7 expression were independent factors for prognosis of colon cancer.
Conclusion: MMP-7 and survivin are related to the generation of colon cancer, and are independent factors for prognosis of colon cancer.