BACKGROUND The urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) may play a critical role in cancer invasion and metastasis. AIMS To study the involvement of uPAR in colorectal carcinogenesis. METHODS The cellular expression and localisation of uPAR were investigated in colorectal adenomas and invasive carcinomas by in situ hybridisation, immunohistochemistry, and northern and western bl...

It has recently been shown that nearly all cancers from hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome (HNPCC), as well as a subset of sporadic colorectal cancers, have DNA replication errors (RER) at repeated sequences distributed throughout their genome. These RER-positive cancers had pathological characteristics of more frequent exophytic growth, large size and poor differentiation. Howe...

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-MET signalling in cancer biology has been well characterized in multiple organ systems. Numerous investigations have described an up-regulation of c-met mRNA in human colorectal adenomas and carcinomas. However, a quantitative immunohistochemical analysis of MET and HGF protein levels in tumor tissues has not been reported previously. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-e...

Colorectal tumorigenesis proceeds through an accumulation of specific genetic alterations. Studies of the mechanism by which these genetic changes effect malignant transformation have focused on the deregulation of cell proliferation. However, colorectal epithelial homeostasis is dependent not only on the rate of cell production but also on apoptosis, a genetically programmed process of autonom...

AIM To explore the expression of Tiam1 gene in colorectal carcinoma and its correlation with tumor metastasis. METHODS Expressions of Tiam1 gene in 8 colorectal carcinoma cell lines were detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. In vitro invasiveness was determined by means of Matrigel invasion assay. The correlation of Tiam1 expression with the invasive ability was also an...

Guanylyl cyclase C, a receptor for bacterial diarrheagenic enterotoxins, is expressed selectively by intestinal epithelium and is an endogenous downstream target of CDX2. The expression of Guanylyl cyclase C is preserved throughout the adenoma/carcinoma sequence in the colorectum. Detection of Guanylyl cyclase C expression by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction is currently being va...

BACKGROUND It has been recently reported that HACE1, the E3 ubiquitin ligase, is epigenetically inactivated in human Wilms' tumors and HACE1 expression was also down-regulated in colon carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS The methylation status of the HACE1 gene was examined in primary carcinomas and the corresponding normal tissues derived from 32 patients with colorectal cancer using quantitat...

BACKGROUND Anthranoid laxatives are the most commonly used purgatives in the therapy of acute and chronic constipation. Recent experimental data and a prospective cohort study provide evidence of a possible risk of anthranoid use for the development of colorectal neoplasms. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a prospective case control study at the University of Erlangen to investigate the ris...

Circulating adiponectin is inversely associated with colorectal carcinoma. However, adiponectin receptor expression has not been examined in normal gastrointestinal tissue, colorectal malignancies, or gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). We collected 40 colorectal carcinomas and 12 non-tumor colorectal tissue specimens from patients with colorectal cancer, as well as 45 tumor and 13 non-tum...