Aim: To investigate clinical significance of Pin1 and beta-catenin expression in colorectal cancers and to demonstrate the relationship of their expression.
Methods: The role of Pin1 and beta-catenin protein in colorectal tumorigenesis and their clinicopathologic significance were analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and the correlation between Pin1 and beta-catenin protein expressions was also studied in 124 patients with colorectal cancer who were surgically treated.
Results: Normal colonic epithelium either failed to express or showed focal and weak expression of Pin1 and beta-catenin. Overexpression of Pin1 and beta-catenin protein was found in 23 (18.54%) and 50 (40.3%) of 124 colorectal cancers, respectively. Overexpression of both proteins was not related to the lymph node metastasis, tumor stage and survival period after excision. Survival analysis results indicated that tumor stage was a valuable predictor of survival. Interestingly, a significant correlation was found between Pin1 and beta-catenin protein expression.
Conclusion: Overexpression of Pin1 and beta-catenin may be closely related with the development and/or progression of colorectal carcinoma and further supports that Pin1 overexpression might contribute to the upregulation of beta-catenin.