Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R) and its ligand, IGF-II, and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with stage III colon cancer (CC).

Methods

In this retrospective study we included consecutive patients who underwent curative surgery for stage III CC. IGF1R and IGF-II/IGF2 status were evaluated in tumour samples by immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Associations of markers with DFS were analysed using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results

Hundred and fifty-one CC patients were included (median age, 66.6 years; female, 54.3%). Low levels of IGF1R and IGF-II protein expression were observed in 16.1% and 10.7% of the cases, respectively. No significant differences in clinicopathological characteristics between patients with tumours expressing low IGF1R or IGF-II protein levels and those with high levels were observed. A low IGF1R protein expression was found to be significantly associated with a shorter DFS (HR 3.32; 95% CI, 1.7–6.31; p = 0.0003), while no association was observed between IGF-II protein expression and DFS (HR 0.91; 95% CI, 0.28–2.96; p = 0.87). In a multivariate analysis, IGF1R protein status remained an independent prognostic factor for DFS (HR 2.73; 95% CI, 1.40–5.31; p = 0.003). Furthermore, we found that neither IGF1R nor IGF2 mRNA expression levels as measured by qRT-PCR correlated with the respective protein expression levels as assessed by immunohistochemistry. Neither of the mRNA expression levels was significantly associated with DFS.

Conclusions

From our data we conclude that low IGF1R protein expression represents a poor prognostic biomarker in stage III colon cancer.

中文翻译：

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IGF1R高蛋白表达与III期结肠癌患者的无病生存相关

目的

这项研究的目的是研究III期结肠癌（CC）患者的胰岛素样生长因子1受体（IGF1R）及其配体IGF-II的表达与无病生存（DFS）之间的关系。 。

方法

在这项回顾性研究中，我们纳入了接受III期CC根治性手术的连续患者。通过免疫组织化学和实时定量PCR（qRT-PCR）评估肿瘤样品中IGF1R和IGF-II / IGF2的状态。使用Cox比例风险模型分析标记与DFS的关联。

结果

纳入151位CC患者（中位年龄为66.6岁；女性为54.3％）。分别在16.1％和10.7％的病例中观察到低水平的IGF1R和IGF-II蛋白表达。在IGF1R或IGF-II蛋白水平低的肿瘤患者和高水平的IGF1R或IGF-II蛋白水平低的肿瘤患者之间，在临床病理特征上无显着差异。发现低的IGF1R蛋白表达与较短的DFS显着相关（HR 3.32； 95％CI，1.7–6.31；p  = 0.0003），而在IGF-II蛋白表达与DFS之间没有相关性（HR 0.91； 95） ％CI，0.28–2.96；p  = 0.87）。在多变量分析中，IGF1R蛋白状态仍然是DFS的独立预后因素（HR 2.73； 95％CI，1.40–5.31；p = 0.003）。此外，我们发现通过qRT-PCR测量的IGF1R和IGF2 mRNA表达水平均与通过免疫组织化学评估的相应蛋白表达水平无关。两个mRNA表达水平均与DFS无关。

结论

根据我们的数据，我们得出结论，低IGF1R蛋白表达代表III期结肠癌的不良预后生物标志物。