Evaluation of the relationship between pathologic stage and other prognostic factors with β-catenin, mmp7, vegf, vimentin and ki67 expressions by immunohistochemical method

Wnt pathway is a large transmembrane receptor family and an intracellular signaling system which takes role in cell proliferation, migration, differentiation and death. Studies suggest that disorders in this pathway takes a significant part in carsinogenesis and cancer prognosis. Colorectal carcinomas are one of the most common cancers in industrialized countries and one of the most responsible for cancer-related deaths. If the effect of this signaling system on colorectal adenocarcinoma prognosis is revealed, protein specific new chemotherapeutic agents can be developed and this pathway can become one of the prognostic factors in colorectal adenocarcinoma. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between Wnt3, β-catenin, MMP7, VEGF, Vimentin and Ki67 expressions in colorectal adenocarcinomas with stage and other prognostic factors. Tumor blocks of 121 cases, who underwent surgery because of colorectal adenocarcinoma between January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2015 at our center, were selected for our study. Immunohistochemical methods were used to determine the expression levels of Wnt3, β-catenin, MMP7, VEGF, Vimentin and Ki67 in these cases. The cases were evaluated under a microscope. The normal distribution of the obtained data, mean value of the independent groups, the percent distribution of categorical data among the groups, the correlation of multiple continuous data were calculated using SPSS v18. It was observed that increased levels of nuclear β-catenin and VEGF expression in the tumor, enhance lymph node involvement. In addition, it was found that increased expression of VEGF enhances tumor progression. Tumoral MMP7 expression, Ki67 proliferation index, and stromal vimentin expression were not associated with microscopic grade, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, lymph node involvement, and tumor progression. Nuclear β-catenin and VEGF expression levels in the tumour were observed to correlate with each other.