Background: Isoform switching of CD44 is associated with epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in several cancers; however, the clinical implications of this remain unclear for colorectal cancer (CRC).
Methods: We measured expression levels of E-cadherin, vimentin, CD44 standard (CD44s) and CD44 variant 9 (CD44v9) transcripts in 14 CRC cell lines and 150 CRC patients. We determined EMT and CD44 status by calculating vimentin/E-cadherin and CD44s/CD44v9 expression ratios, respectively. Associations between EMT status and CD44 isoform switching, and between clinicopathological factors and prognosis were analyzed.
Results: CD44s was highly expressed in mesenchymal-type cell lines, while CD44v9 was highly expressed in epithelial-type cell lines. CD44 knockdown resulted in decreased levels of vimentin expression, and significantly reduced proliferation, migration and invasion of cells. In CRC patients, the mesenchymal group and the high CD44 status group exhibited significantly poorer survival than that for the epithelial group (5-year survival; 62.1% vs. 85.5%, P = 0.0085) and the low CD44 status group (5-year survival; 66.1% vs. 85.0%, P = 0.0251). On multivariate analysis, CD44 status was an independent prognostic factor.
Conclusions: The status of EMT and CD44 is a critical prognostic factor, with CD44 isoform switching a possible trigger for EMT in CRC.
Keywords: CD44; colorectal cancer; epithelial to mesenchymal transition.
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.