The Expression And The Clinical Significance Of TGF-α And EGF In Human Colorectal Cancers

Objective:To examine the expression and its characteristics of TGF-a and EGF in colorectal cancer in order to explore the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer and the clinical significance of the expression.Materials and Methods:A handmade Tissue microarray made by 47 colorectal carcinoma samples,10 peficancerous tissues and 10 normal mucosas was examined with immuhistochemical SABC method for the expression of TGF-a and EGF. The data were analyzed by software SPSS 17.0,X2-test or exact probability-test was used to compare the difference between groups and Spearman grade correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between TGF-αand EGF. a=0.05 was considered as level of a test.Results:(1) The expression of TGF-a:The specimens were examined immunohistochemically for the production of immunoreactive (IR-) transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-a). The IR-TGF-a of 47 colorectal cancer was detected in 31/47 (65.96%),10 peficancerous tissues was detected in 8/10 (80.00%),10 normal mucosas was detected in just 2/10 (20.00%).The positive rate of IR-TGF-a in Dukes'stage A was 40.00%,B was 53.85%,C was 76.92%,D was 90.90%,in well-differentiated carcinoma was 33.33% and in moderate-differentiaed carcinoma was 68.42% and in poor-differentiated carcinoma was 100.00 %.(2) The expression of EGF:The specimens were examined immunohistochemically for the production of IR-epidermal growth factor (EGF). The IR-EGF of 47 colorectal cancer was detected in 26/47 (55.32 %),10 peficancerous tissues was detected in 2/10 (20.00%),10 normal mucosas was detected in just 1/10 (10.00%).The positive rate of IR-EGF in Dukes' stage A was 30.00%,B was 46.15%,C was 61.54%,D was 81.82%, in well-differentiated carcinoma was 26.67% and in moderate-differentiaed carcinoma was 63.16% and in poor-differentiated carcinoma was 76.92%.Conclusions:(1) There was an important relationship between the expression of TGF-a, EGF and the development,progression of colorectal cancers.The two proteins might promote the proliferation and differentiation of cancer cells so that cancer cells had a growth advantage. (2)The TGF-a and EGF had a significant relation to the differentiation and metastasis of tumors. It suggests that TGF-a and EGF may serve as biologic markers that predict the recurrence and prognostic of colorectal cancers. (3) A co-expression of TGF-a and EGF together with a positive correlation between TGF-a and EGF were observed in colorectal cancers.