The present study suggests that TGM2 is useful as a predictive marker for patient prognosis and may be a novel therapeutic target for CRC.

Metastasis-associated in colon cancer-1 (MACC1) is key in promoting tumor proliferation and invasion, and is mediated by the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor. Previous reports have revealed that MACC1 is a novel oncogene that is expressed in various types of gastrointestinal cancer. The present study comprised of 174 patients who underwent curative surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC). The correlation between gene expression and clinical parameters of the patients was assessed. It was identified that patients exhibiting high MACC1 expression levels were statistically more susceptible to distant metastases and a poor prognosis, and those exhibiting low MACC1 expression showed improved disease-free and overall survival than those with high expression. Therefore, the present data indicates that MACC1 expression levels may present as a prognostic factor in CRC patients.

Abstract. In the post-genomic era, the main aim of cancer research is organizing the large amount of data on gene expression and protein abundance into a meaningful biological context. Performing integrated analysis of genomic and proteomic data sets is a challenging task. To comprehensively assess the correlation between mRNA and protein expression, we focused on the gene set enrichment analysis, a recently described powerful analytical method. When the differentially expressed proteins in 12 colorectal cancer tissue samples were con sidered a collective set, they exhibited significant concordance with primary tumor gene expression data in 180 colorectal cancer tissue samples. We found that 53 upregulated proteins were significantly enriched in genes exhibiting elevated gene expression levels (P<0.001, ES=0.53), indicating a positive correlation between the proteomic and transcriptomic data. Similarly, 44 downregulated proteins were significantly enriched in genes exhibiting elevated gene expression levels (P<0.001, ES -0.65). Moreover, we applied gene set enrichment analysis to identify functional genetic pathways in CRC. A relatively large number of upregulated proteins were related to the two principal pathways; ECM receptor interaction was related to heparan sulfate proteoglycan 2 and vitronectin, and ribosome to RPL13, RPL27A, RPL4, RPS18, and RPS29. In conclusion, the integrated understanding of both genomic and proteomic data sets can lead to a better understanding of functional inference at the physiological level and potential molecular targets in clinical settings.

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Agents targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have been validated as breast cancer therapeutics, yet efficacy can differ between tumor types and individual patients. Rapid noninvasive determination of response could provide significant benefits. We tested if response to the VEGF antibody bevacizumab and chemo drug paclitaxel could be detected using contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging (CEUS). The objective of this study was to evaluate contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with contrast agent Sonazoid® injection as a predictor of tumor response. Patients and methods: Ten patients with advanced and metastatic breast carcinomas treated were evaluated. Examinations were performed at baseline, after 2 and 4 weeks and every one month on antiangiogenic drug bevacizumab and chemo drug paclitaxel in tumor targets that were accessible to CEUS. Histological findings were obtained in all cases by ultrasound-guided 14 gauge core needle biopsy or 10 gauge vacuum-assisted biopsy. Each examination included a bolus injection of Sonazoid® and 40–60 seconds of raw linear data with an Aplio (Toshiba), Logiq (GE) and Ascendus (Hitachi-ALOKA) with a 8–12 MHz linear transducer. A low reduced mechanical index (MI) of less than 0.24 was chosen to avoid early gas bubble destruction. The ethic committee of our institution approved this study. An informed consent was signed by each patient for the ultrasound examination and before administering for the contrast medium. Results: A total of 60 examinations were performed. Various intratumoral perfusion parameters changed over time, and the signal intensity was significantly impaired in the treated tumors before the treatment efficacy on tumor size could be observed. Conclusion: CEUS has advantages for real-time visualization and is a new noninvasive imaging technique which might be an effective tool for evaluating antiangiogenic drugs and chemo drugs in breast cancer. The use of a noninvasive ultrasound approach may allow for earlier and more effective determination of efficacy of antiangiogenic therapy. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-03-07.