Background/Aim: Adjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk Stage II colorectal cancer (CRC) is weakly recommended; however, no consensus exists on “high-risk” definition. Prognostic biomarker identification is important for selecting patients with poor prognosis who may benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Using Microarray data analyses, ELF3 was identified as a candidate gene highly expressed in Stage II CRC with distant recurrences. ELF3 mRNA expression in 168 Stage II CRC patients was subjected to quantitative RT-PCR analysis and ELF3 protein expression in 185 patients was quantified by immunohistochemical analysis. The relationship between mRNA and protein expression levels and patient characteristics were also investigated. Results: The overall recurrence rate and relapse-free survival were significantly poorer in the ELF3 high-expression than the low-expression group at the mRNA and protein levels. High ELF3 mRNA and protein expression levels were independent poor prognostic factors. Conclusion: High ELF3 expression was associated with recurrence of Stage II.

中文翻译：

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ELF3 过表达作为 I​​I 期结直肠癌复发的预后生物标志物

背景/目的：不推荐对高危 II 期结直肠癌 (CRC) 进行辅助化疗；然而，对于“高风险”的定义尚无共识。预后生物标志物鉴定对于选择可能受益于辅助化疗的预后不良的患者很重要。材料和方法：使用微阵列数据分析，ELF3 被鉴定为在具有远处复发的 II 期 CRC 中高表达的候选基因。对 168 名 II 期 CRC 患者的 ELF3 mRNA 表达进行定量 RT-PCR 分析，并通过免疫组织化学分析对 185 名患者的 ELF3 蛋白表达进行定量。还研究了 mRNA 和蛋白质表达水平与患者特征之间的关系。结果：在 mRNA 和蛋白水平上，ELF3 高表达组的总复发率和无复发生存期明显低于低表达组。高 ELF3 mRNA 和蛋白质表达水平是独立的不良预后因素。结论：ELF3高表达与II期复发相关。