The Expression Of SFRP2 And β-Catenin In The Carcinogenesis And Progression Of Colorectal Carcinoma

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of Secreted Frizzled-related proteins 2 (SFRP2) andβ-catenin in carcinogenesis and progression of colorectal carcinoma.METHODS Expression of SFRP2 andβ-catenin proteins were examined immunohistochemi-cally in 20 cases of normal colorectal mucosa, 20 cases of colorectal polyp, 36 cases of colorectal adenomas and 42 cases of colorectal carcinoma. The corresponding clinical data between the expression of SFRP2 andβ-catenin proteins were analyzed retrospectively.RESULTS The positive expression rates of SFRP2 were significantly lower in colorectal carcinoma and colorectal adenoma than in normal colorectal mucosa and colorectal polyp (28.57% vs 100.0%, 95.0%; 36.11% vs 100.0%, 95.0%, all P < 0.05). The reduced membranousβ-catenin expression rate was significantly higher in colorectal carcinoma than in normal colorectal mucosa, colorectal polyp and colorectal adenoma (52.4% vs 0%, 0%, 11.1%, all P < 0.05). The cytoplasmic and nuclearβ-catenin expression rates were significantly·higher in colorectal carcinoma and colorectal adenomas than in normal colorectal mucosa and colorectal polyp (64.3% vs 0%, 0%; 30.6% vs 0%, 0%, all P < 0.05), higher in colorectal carcinoma than in colorectal adenomas (P < 0.05). The positive expression of SFRP2, reduced membranousβ-catenin expression and cytoplasmic and nuclearβ-catenin expression in colorectal carcinoma were significantly correlated with the tumor differentiation, but not with the tumor position, morphology or size, lymph node metastasis or Duke's stage. Besides, the positive expression of SFRP2 was signifcantly correlated with the depth of invasion in colorectal carcinoma. The positive expression of SFRP2 was negatively correlated with the reduced membranousβ-catenin expression (r = -0.452, P = 0.003) and cytoplasmic and nuclearβ-catenin expression (r = -0.519, P = 0.000). There existed positive correlation between the reduced membranousβ-catenin expression and cytoplasmic and nuclearβ-catenin expression (r = 0.782, P = 0.000).CONCLUSIONS The expression of SFRP2 andβ-catenin are closely correlated with the carcinogenesis and progression of colorectal carcinoma, and may be an early event. The positive expression of SFRP2 is negatively correlated with the reduced membranousβ-catenin expression and cytoplasmic and nuclearβ-catenin expression. The former may inhibit carcinogenesis and latter may promote carcinogenesis.