P53 and bcl-2 in colorectal cancer arising in patients under 40 years of age: Distribution and prognostic relevance

Young people (⩽40 years of age) with colorectal cancer (CRC) represent a distinct subgroup with more aggressive disease behaviour compared to older patients. We evaluate whether p53 and bcl-2 could be useful in identifying young patients at higher risk of tumour progression. We reviewed 1340 CRC patients with 58 patients ⩽40 years (4.2%). They had more frequent moderately or poorly differentiated mucinous adenocarcinomas (26% versus 12.3%, p = 0.03); higher advanced stage at diagnosis; shorter 5-year overall survival (49.8% versus 71%; p = 0.02); more frequent p53 positive (89.8% versus 72.6%, p < 0.05) and bcl-2 negative (88.0% versus 66.2%, p < 0.05) tumours; no difference in DNA content or proliferation indexes. Moreover, p53+ and bcl-2- resulted in being independent predictors of survival with shorter survival for the p53+/bcl-2- patients. Combining p53 and bcl-2, we could identify young CRC patients at higher risk of progression, who probably require development of a more sophisticated therapeutic approach based on identification of predictive factors.