Decreased expression of uroplakin Ia is associated with colorectal cancer progression and poor survival of patients.

AIM:The present study was to investigate the clinical significance of Uroplakins Ia (UPKIa) in the development of colorectal cancer. METHODS:mRNA levels of UPKIa in paired colorectal cancer lesions and the adjacent noncancerous tissues were examined using real-time PCR. The expression and prognostic value of UPKIa were examined in 125 colorectal cancer patients after resection. Statistical analyses were applied to derive prognostic associations. RESULTS:UPKIa mRNA level was down-regulated in colorectal cancer lesions compared with that in the paired adjacent noncancerous tissues. Reduced expression of UPKIa was significantly associated with clinical staging (P = 0.038), and tumor size (P = 0.035) of the disease. Moreover, low expression of UPKIa was significantly associated with poorer overall (OS) and recurrent free (RFS) survival (P = 0.017 and P = 0.007, respectively) of colorectal cancer patients. Multivariate analysis suggested that reduced expression of UPK1a was an independent prognostic marker of colorectal cancer (P = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS:Low expression of UPKIa was a promising predictor for poor outcome of colorectal cancer patients. Further studies on the potential use of UPKIa as a therapeutic targetis are still needed.

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