Research On The Correlationship Of Netrin-1 Dependence Receptors DCC And UNC5C Expression And Apoptosis In Colorectal Carcinoma

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of the DCC (deleted in colorectal cancer) and UNC5C (Uncoordinated-5-C) expression and apoptosis in colorectal carcinoma, to explore the role of DCC and UNC5C in apoptosis and colorectal carcinoma.Methods: Real-time quantitative PCR(polymerase chain reaction) and immunohistochemistry were performed to detect DCC and UNC5C expression in tissue of surgical margin and carcinoma. Terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling(TUNEL) was used to detect apoptosis in these tissue. The correlation of these results with pathoclinical data was statistically analyzed. Results:1. The transcription of DCC and UNC5C mRNA and their protein expression in carcinoma are significantly lower than that of surgical margin. In carcinoma, their expression decrease with the invasion, lymphatic metastasis and Dukes stage.2. AI (apoptotic index) in carcinoma is higher than that of surgical margin. However, AI in carcinoma decreases with the invasion, lymphatic metastasis and Dukes stage. It correlates positively with the expression of DCC and UNC5C.3. In carcinoma, AI of the DCC and UNC5C protein expression group is significantly higher than that of single expression and none expression group. However, there is not significantly difference between AI of the single expression group and that ofnone expression group. Conclusions:1. DCC and UNC5C could relate to the carcinogenesis and progress of colorectal carcinoma. Particularly, their expression could correlate negatively with the carcinoma invasion and metastasis. These results suggest that DCC and UNC5C play important roles on the invasion and metastasis of colorectal carcinoma. Their expression may serve as a marker for the biologic behavior of colorectal carcinoma.2. The abnormality of apoptosis could involve the colorectal tumorigenesis. There are tight correlation between continuous suppression of cellular apoptosis and tumor progress.3. DCC and UNC5C plays a role in cellular apoptosis. The expression of DCC or UNC5C alone could not induce apoptosis where the ligand is absent. Their co-expression could be necessary to induce apoptosis.