Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2124241 | European Journal of Cancer | 2008 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
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.
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Authors
A. Torsello, C. Garufi, M. Cosimelli, M.G. Diodoro, M. Zeuli, B. Vanni, C. Campanella, C. D'Angelo, I. Sperduti, R. Perrone Donnorso, F. Cognetti, E. Terzoli, M. Mottolese, on behalf of the Colorectal Disease Management Team,