Lumican expression in advanced colorectal cancer with nodal metastasis correlates with poor prognosis

Abstract

Lumican is a member of a small leucine-rich proteoglycan family, and it is reportedly overexpressed in human breast cancer. The expression of lumican in the extracellular matrix in breast cancer is associated with a high tumor grade, low estrogen receptor levels and young age. Lumican expression has been previously reported in colorectal cancer, but the role of lumican in the tumor is not well understood. In this study, we examined the expression and role of lumican in advanced colorectal cancer. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on 158 patients who underwent curative surgery for advanced colorectal cancer with lymph node metastasis. In the normal colorectal tissues, lumican immunoreactivity was observed in the fibroblasts and neural cells, but not in the colorectal epithelial cells. Lumican was localized in the cytoplasm of the cancer cells and its overexpression was detected in 99 of the 158 (62.7%) colorectal cancer patients. Clinicopathologically, there was no association of lumican expression with age, sex, histological typing, or venous and lymphatic invasion. However, lumican expression tended to correlate with the spread of lymph node metastasis and the depth of tumor invasion (p=0.136 and 0.135, respectively). Furthermore, the survival rate was significantly lower in patients with a high lumican expression level than in those with a low lumican expression level (p=0.048). These results indicate that lumican expression is a potential prognostic factor in patients with advanced colorectal cancer with nodal metastasis.

Genomewide mRNA profiling of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma for identification of cancer biomarkers

“…41,42 Lumican overexpression has also been reported to correlate with lymph node metastasis and the depth of tumor invasion in colorectal cancer. 43 It was upregulated 7 fold in tumor tissues as compared to their adjacent normal. Versican is a large chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan that plays a crucial role in ECM assembly, anti-adhesion, migration, cell proliferation and extracellular matrix.…”

Altered expression of small leucine-rich proteoglycans (Decorin, Biglycan and Lumican): Plausible diagnostic marker in urothelial carcinoma of bladder

“…[31][32][33] In colorectal cancer, Lumican expression tends to correlate with poor prognosis. 31 Overexpression of Lumican in human colon LS180 cells produced an increased cell migratory potential due to remodelling of actin cytoskeleton. 34 Till date, there is no report that correlates Lumican with UBC.…”

Differential proteomic analysis of a human breast tumor and its matched bone metastasis identifies cell membrane and extracellular proteins associated with bone metastasis

“…In breast cancer tumors, lumican was reported as over-expressed and associated with high tumor grade, low estrogen receptor levels, and young age of patients. 63,64 High levels of lumican have been correlated with the spread of lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer 65 whereas it was reported to inhibit cancer cell migration in a melanoma cell line. 66,67 Lumican and the two other most studied SLRPs, e.g.…”

“…lumican) level in bone metastases could play a role in favor of bone matrix destruction and be associated with an increased invasive capacity for breast cancer cells at the primary site. [63][64][65] Comparison of mass spectrometry data between human clinical material and osteotropic…”