CD44 Standard Isoform; Not a Good Marker for Colon Cancer

Abstract

Background: CD44 isoforms are known to be possible diagnostic and prognostic markers in colorectal cancer (CRC). Objectives: The present study aims at investigating the expression of CD44 standard (CD44s) isoform in CRC by immunohistochemistry (IHC) as well as exploring its clinicopathological correlations. Methods: A total of 102 patients, who underwent surgery for primary colorectal adenocarcinoma, were enrolled in this study. IHC staining for CD44 was performed on pathology samples and defined as: staining < 10% as low/weak, 10% - 50% as moderate, and > 50% as strong/extensive expression level. Results: The patients’ mean age was 62.8 ± 15.67 years. IHC staining for CD44s demonstrated low expression level in 56%, moderate in 24%, and extensive in 20% of the participants. The only association was found between CD44 expression level and patients’ age (P = 0.03) as 25% of tumors in patients younger than 60 years old expressed CD44 expression strongly in contrast to 16.1% of the patients older than 60 years old. No other association was found between tumor histology, stage, gender, tumor location, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, lymph node metastasis, or tumor subtype (P > 0.05). Conclusions: No relation was found between CD44s expression and any tumoral characteristics of CRC. It seems that CD44s are not helpful in improving the prognostic or diagnostic power in CRC.