Bcl-2 expression in rectal cancer

Abstract

-Background -Proteins involved in apoptosis process seem to play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis.Aim -To determine the prevalence of bcl-2 protein immunohistochemical expression and its relation with clinical and histopathological variables of rectal adenocarcinoma. Patients and methods -One hundred and thirty-two patients operated at "Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre", Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, between 1988 and 1999 were studied through immunohistochemical reaction using a monoclonal antibody anti-bcl-2 on formalin-fi xed, paraffi n-embedded tissue samples.Results -The prevalence of bcl-2 protein was 29.5%. There was a signifi cant increased number of positive bcl-2 cases among women as compared to men. There was no signifi cant association between bcl-2 and age, tumour site, histological grade, mucin production, depth of invasion, lymphatic involvement, distant metastasis or stage, despite a trend showing decreased immunoreactivity to bcl-2 among poorly and moderately differentiated tumours, as well as disseminated disease.Conclusions -Analysis of bcl-2 protein expression in tumour tissues, as well as other oncoproteins, may have a role in predict therapeutic response and prognosis of colorectal cancer. However, the potential use of bcl-2 protein assessment in the clinical set for management of rectal cancer remains to be determined.

Impact ofMTHFRgene C677T polymorphism onBcl-2gene methylation and protein expression in colorectal cancer

“…We found that the frequency of Bcl-2 protein expression in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in nonneoplastic adjacent tissues. The frequency of Bcl-2 protein expression in tumor tissues (45.7%) in our results is higher than that reported by Contu et al [47] and Ismail et al [48], but approximates to that shown by Petrişor et al [20] and Tsamandas et al [49]. There was no significant association of Bcl-2 oncoprotein with gender, T-category, lymphatic involvement and TNM classification, indicating that the Bcl-2 expression is an earlier occurrence of carcinogenesis.…”

The relationship between lymph node metastasis and some clinicopathologic variables in mucinous and non mucinous colorectal adenocarcinoma

“…19,25 Regarding depth of invasion fifty four cases (39.7%) were invading pericolorectal tissue (T3) followed by 35 cases (25.7%) invading muscularis propria (T2), another 24 cases (17.6%) were penetrating visceral peritoneum or directly adherent or invade other organs (T4), while only 23 cases (17%) were invading submucosa (T1), the same results obtained by many others. 9,16,26 The relation between depth of invasion and lymph node involvement was in agreement with other studies which was statistically nonsignificant. 18 …”

“…This is mostly due to delayed presentation and lack of screening programs for colorectal cancer in our locality as also shown in two other studies. 16,17 Tumor size (as 57% were ≤ 5cm) showed non-significant correlation with lymph node metastasis in concordance with other studies. [18][19][20] In the current study, colorectal carcinomas were more common in male (68%) than female (32%).…”

Metronomic Small Molecule Inhibitor of Bcl-2 (TW-37) Is Antiangiogenic and Potentiates the Antitumor Effect of Ionizing Radiation

“…Indeed Bcl-2 expression is highly predictive of local relapse in early stage breast cancer after surgery and radiotherapy (4). Abnormal expression of Bcl-2 is found in a number of cancers including head and neck cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and rectal cancer (5-8). Notably, Bcl-2 expression is highly elevated in the endothelial cells lining head and neck tumor blood vessels, as compared to the endothelial cells of normal oral mucosa (9).…”