The expression and significance of Gal-3 and MUC1 in colorectal cancer and colon cancer

OBJECTIVE The objective of the present investigation was to explore the expression and significance of Gal-3 and MUC1 in colorectal cancer tissue and tissue adjacent to carcinoma. METHODS In this study we collected colorectal cancer tissues and the tissues adjacent to carcinoma from 45 cases from the Colorectal Cancer Surgery Department of Zhengzhou People's Hospital from December of 2009 to June of 2010. At the same time, this study also collected nontumor tissues adjacent to carcinoma from 20 cases as the control group. The expression of Gal-3 and MUC1 of these tissues was detected by using immunohistochemistry streptavidin-peroxidase method, and the correlation between colorectal cancer and expression of Gal-3 and MUC1 was analyzed. RESULTS The positive expression rates of Gal-3 in the tissues adjacent to carcinoma and colorectal cancer were 15.0% and 73.3%, respectively. The positive expression rate of Gal-3 in colorectal cancer was significantly higher than that in the tissue adjacent to carcinoma. The positive expression rate of Gal-3 of the patients without lymph node metastasis was 61.5% (16/26). The positive expression rate of Gal-3 in the patients with lymph node metastasis was 89.5% (17/19), and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.0363). The positive expression rates of MUC1 in the tissues adjacent to carcinoma and in colorectal cancer tissues were 0.0% and 54.5%, respectively. The positive expression rate of MUC1 in colorectal cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the normal tissues adjacent to carcinoma (P<0.05); the positive expression rate of MUC1 in the patients without lymph node metastasis was 34.6% (9/26). The positive expression rate of MUC1 in the patients with lymph node metastasis was 84.2% (16/19), and the expression difference was statistically significant (P=0.0009). CONCLUSION The expression of Gal-3 and MUC1 was significantly higher than that in the nontumor tissue adjacent to carcinoma. There was a correlation between Gal-3 and MUC1 expression and lymphatic metastasis.