Is Endocan A Novel Marker Of Colorectal Cancer?

Main Category: Colorectal Cancer
Also Included In: Lung Cancer
Article Date: 15 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Endocan, previously called endothelial cell specific molecule-1 (ESM-1), is over expressed in human tumors, and its serum levels are elevated in late-stage lung cancer and experimental tumors, as measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay or by immunohistochemistry. The RNA level of endocan is also recognized as one of the most significant molecular signatures with a poor prognosis of several types of cancer including lung cancer.

The research team led by Prof. Wang from Key Laboratory of Gene Resource Utilization for Severe Diseaseof Anhui medical University, study the endocan protein expression changes in colon and rectum cancer and this was published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

They analyzed expression of endocan in 72 tumor tissue samples of colorectal cancer as well as in 27 normal mucous membrane tissue samples using in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray, Western blot and reverse-transcript polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Their result indicated that the expression of endocan was higher in normal colon and rectum tissue samples than in cancerous tissue samples (mRNA = 92.6%, protein = 36%), and was lower in colorectal cancer tissue samples (mRNA = 70.4%, protein = 36.1%). No correlation was found between staining intensity and clinical parameters such as sex, age, tumor size and TNM stage. However, the expression of endocan was positively correlated with the tissue differentiation in colorectal cancer. Their findings highlighted that endocan may be a molecule target for diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference: Zuo L, Zhang SM, Hu RL, Zhu HQ, Zhou Q, Gui SY, Wu Q, Wang Y. Correlation between expression and differentiation of endocan in colorectal cancer. World J Gastroenterol 2008;14(28): http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/4562.asp

Correspondence to: Professor Yuan Wang, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, Anhui Province, China.

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Source: Lai-Fu Li
World Journal of Gastroenterology