The association of autophagy gene expression prophiles with clinical and pathological parameteres in colorectal cancer

Colon cancer is the third most common type of cancer among men and women over the world. Aproximetely 1.200.000 new cases and 609.000 colon cancer-related deaths are estimated per year. Colon cancer consists of 10% of all cancers among men and women. Primary treatment of early stage colorectal canser (CRC) is surgery with high cure rates. However, prognosis of recurrent and metastatic patients are poor and the median survival time is about 24 months. Approximately half of the patients develop metastases. Main treatment of these patients is chemotherapy. New chemotherapy agents and targeted drugs have led to increased response and survival rates. Autophagy means that the cell eats itself. Autophagy is known as the process that include packaging and then transporting of the long-living proteins, damaged organels, microorganisms and viruses into the lyzozomes where they are digested. Autopfagy genes (Atg) play a role in the regulation of autophagy. Otofagy is defined by the presence of double membrane vesicles in the cytoplasm called otophagozoms. Recent studies revelaed that otophagy take a part in metabolism, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, infections, morphogenesis, aging, cell death and immune system. Otoghagy includes both the opposite processes of cell death and cell sustanance. roles including. Since otophagy causes cell death it is called programmed cell death II. Based upon the recent studies that revealed a relationship between cancer and otophagy, new treatment strategies have been developed that target otophagy signal pathways. For example, mTOR inhibitors have been used in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. In this study, we studied the expression levels of 94 genes that are supposed to be related to cancer development and progression with RT-PCR method in colon cancer tissue and normal colon tissue. Gene expression levels were compared between normal tissue and tumor tissue. 47 out of 94 genes showed higher expression in tumor tissues than in normal tissues. These results were compared to patients demographical and histological features, showing no association. Key Words: Colorectal Cancer, Autophagy, Gene Expression