The Activity of RhoA is Correlated with Lymph Node Metastasis in Human Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Rho family GTPases play a pivotal role in the regulation of numerous cellular functions associated with malignant transformation and metastasis. To evaluate the role of these GTPases in colorectal cancer, the protein expression levels and activities of these proteins in matched sets of tumor and non-tumor tissues of surgical specimens were analyzed. The relationship between the protein levels and activities in tumor tissues to the clinicopathological features was also assessed. The expression levels of RhoA, active RhoA, Rac1, and active Rac1 in tumor tissues were higher than in normal tissues. The amounts of active RhoA protein in primary tumors correlated with lymph nodes metastasis. No relationship was noted between the protein expression levels and other clinicopathological findings. These findings suggest that the Rho family small GTPases are related to malignant transformation and progression of colorectal cancer and the activation of RhoA is associated with the lymph node metastasis.

Chemotherapy Resistance in Diffuse-Type Gastric Adenocarcinoma Is Mediated by RhoA Activation in Cancer Stem-Like Cells

“…RhoA overexpression has been identified in a variety of other cancers, and RhoA activity has been linked to tumorigenesis and invasion (31, 32). For example in colorectal cancer, increased RhoA expression in primary tumors correlates with lymph node metastasis and liver metastasis (33, 34). Fairly little is known about the role of RhoA in gastric cancer.…”

Increased RhoA Activity Predicts Worse Overall Survival in Patients Undergoing Surgical Resection for Lauren Diffuse-Type Gastric Adenocarcinoma

“…30–33 However, the role of RhoA in gastric cancer tumorigenesis is poorly understood. Pan et al evaluated mRNA levels of the seven main members of the Rho GTPase family, including RhoA, in 53 gastric carcinoma tumor samples as well as seven gastric cancer cell lines.…”

The Correlation Between RhoA Expression and Clinicopathological Characteristics in Gastric Cancer Patients After Curative Surgery

“…RhoA inactivation was shown to reduce infiltration and metastases in both in vitro and in vivo experiments using pancreatic cancer cell lines [24]. Moreover, a recent study found that low immunohistological RhoA expression indicated a poor outcome in colorectal cancer [25]. Su et al [8] reported that RhoA expression was associated with deeper tumor invasion and a poor prognosis in gastric cancer.…”