Background: Particularly interesting new cysteine-histidine-rich protein (PINCH) was found to be up-regulated in the stroma of colorectal carcinomas (CRCs) in our previous studies and was involved in angiogenesis through activation of fibroblasts in extracellular matrix (ECM) in response to tumors. Here, we examined PINCH mRNA expression in colorectal cancer and investigated its relationship with the clinicopathological features and proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and FAS.
Materials and methods: The primary cancer tissues, adjacent noncancerous tissues and the proximal and distant margins of normal mucosa were collected from 81 colorectal cancer patients during surgery. PINCH, PCNA, VEGF and FAS mRNA expression was examined by reverse transcriptional PCR (RT-PCR).
Results: PINCH mRNA expression was significantly increased in primary tumors compared with that in adjacent noncancerous tissues, and the proximal and distant margins of normal mucosa (p<0.0001). Expression of PINCH mRNA in colon cancer tended to be higher than expression in rectal cancer (p=0.051). Tumors which had infiltrated through the wall of the colorectum trended to have higher PINCH mRNA expression (p=0.073). PINCH mRNA expression in primary tumors was positively related to the expression of PCNA mRNA (r=0.534, p=0.010), VEGF mRNA (r=0.431, p=0.022) and FAS mRNA (r=0.542, p=0.012).
Conclusion: PINCH mRNA was overexpressed in colorectal cancer and associated with PCNA mRNA, VEGF mRNA and FAS mRNA expression. PINCH mRNA was involved in the development of colorectal cancer and might play a role in the epithelial mesenchymal transition in the rectum differently than in the colon, through the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC)/catenin pathway.