The Clinical Significance of DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR, which Are Novel Markers Expressed in Human Colon Cancer

Abstract

BackgroundColon cancer has always been diagnosed at a late stage, which is associated with poor prognosis. The currently used serum tumor markers CEA and CA19-9 display low sensitivity and specificity and may not have diagnostic value in early stage colon cancer. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify novel serum biomarkers for use in the early detection of colon cancer.MethodsIn this study, the expression of DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR in serum was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR expression was detected in cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry (IHC).ResultsThe level of sDC-SIGN was lower in patients than in the healthy controls, while the level of sDC-SIGNR in patients was higher than in the healthy controls. Both sDC-SIGN and sDC-SIGNR had diagnostic significances for cancer patients, and the combined diagnosis of these two markers was higher than both of them alone. Furthermore, there were significant differences between both sDC-SIGN and sDC-SIGNR in stage I/II patients and the healthy controls. Moreover, high sDC-SIGN level was accompanied with the long survival time. Additionally, DC-SIGNR was negative in the cancer foci and matched normal colon tissues but was weakly positive between the cancer foci. DC-SIGN staining was faint in matched normal colon tissues, strong in the tumor stroma and the invasive margin of colon cancer tissues, and negatively correlated with the sDC-SIGN level in serum from the same patient. Interestingly, the percent survival of patients with a DC-SIGN mean density of>0.001219 (the upper 95% confidence interval of matched normal colon tissues) was higher than for all other patients.ConclusionDC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR are blood-based molecular markers that can potentially be used for the diagnosis of early stage patients. Moreover, expression of DC-SIGN in serum and cancer tissues may affect the survival time for colon cancer patients.

FXR1a-associated microRNP: A driver of specialized non-canonical translation in quiescent conditions

“…[125][126][127][128] Hes1, a downstream effector of Notch signaling, is important for stem cell maintenance, prevents quiescent cells from differentiation and apoptosis, and is implicated in cancer progression. 59,121,[129][130][131][132][133] Consistently, components of the FXR1a-microRNP are implicated in cancer progression: FXR1 is known to promote tumor invasion and progression, 30 while its interacting partners, PARN and p97, are increased in activity or levels in many cancers.…”

C-type lectins facilitate tumor metastasis

“…2). DC-SIGN is predominantly expressed on DCs, whereas DC-SIGNR and LSECtin are co-expressed by liver and lymph node sinusoidal endothelial cells (9,87). DC-SIGN, DC-SIGNR and LSECtin share common functions in that they serve as adhesion molecules and are involved in antipathogenic microorganism immunity (87).…”

“…The association between DC-SIGN and LSECtin and tumor metastasis has been further demonstrated. Jiang et al (9) reported high expression levels of DC-SIGN in colon cancer tissues, which correlated positively with stage III–IV disease (9). Thus, DC-SIGN is associated with the metastatic potential of colon cancer cells, as lymphatic metastasis or distant organ metastasis are frequently present are in stages III–IV of disease.…”

“…This finding may be valuable for elucidating the molecular mechanism of hepatic metastasis in colon cancer. Although the association between DC-SIGNR and tumor metastasis remains to be elucidated, previous studies have reported certain correlations between DC-SIGNR and tumors (9,90). Thus, the DC-SIGN family may be promising targets for tumor metastasis.…”

Cytotoxic of Ganoderma lucidum in Colon Cancer through Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) as Its Molecular Target

“…The side effects arise because of non-selective and specific target of the treatments. Therefore, more studies set to discover specific and selective colon cancer treatment [8,9,10] to kill colon cancer cells without endangering normal cells.…”