Clinical utility of measuring expression levels of Stanniocalcin 2 in patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract

Stanniocalcin 2 (STC2) is a novel member of the Stanniocalcin family, the function of which remains unclear. Its expression is clinically significant in several cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical value of measuring expression levels of STC2 in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. A total of 47 tumor and matched tumor-free margin samples were obtained during surgery. The STC2 mRNA expression level in tumor and marginal tissue was examined by real-time quantitative PCR. STC2 mRNA expression levels were higher in tumor tissues than the control. (r=0.36, p≤0.02). mRNA expression level of STC2 was significantly associated with tumor size (p≤0.05) and histologic grade (p≤0.05). Our study demonstrated that STC2 was significantly expressed in CRC patients, relative to the control. STC2 can therefore be used as a biomarker to differentiate between tumor borders and margins. Analysis of STC2 gene expression during surgery could be useful in reducing surgical error in tumor removal and increasing overall success of surgery with improved tumor clearance. However, in some cases such as where the tumor is end-stage, the expression of such a biomarker may not be clinically beneficial to record. The consideration of marginal samples as a control group can help reduce the effect of confounding factors such as racial and individual differences.

Deregulated expression of HDAC3 in colorectal cancer and its clinical significance

“…Similarly, Hashemzadeh et al reported the same result for the STC2 gene in CRC. 49 Taken together, our data may support the rare literature that shows field cancerization in CRC. 50 Furthermore, combining multiple gene expression data and correlating the data to distances from tumor margins might be effective for delineating the tumor margin and molecular alterations that are characteristic of field of cancerization in CRC.…”

Effect of STC2 gene silencing on colorectal cancer cells

“…The differential expression levels of STC2 have certain guiding significance for the prediction, metastasis and prognosis of various malignant tumors (24). Studies have shown that STC2 is involved in the development of CRC (25,26). However, its mechanism of action is not well understood.…”

“…Studies have found that the expression level of STC2 in CRC patients is higher than that in normal tissues, and that the expression level of STC2 is related to tumor size and pathological grade (25,27,28). In the present study, it was demonstrated that STC2 was obviously increased in CRC cell lines.…”

Comprehensive molecular exploration identified promoter DNA methylation of the CRBP1 gene as a determinant of radiation sensitivity in rectal cancer

“…Stanniocalcins (STCs) are glycoprotein hormones, and several investigators have reported their role in calcium and phosphate homeostasis (Ishibashi and Imai, 2002; Chang et al , 2003). Upregulation of STC2 has been reported in several cancers (Ieta et al , 2009; Kita et al , 2011; Arigami et al , 2013; Fang et al , 2014; Hashemzadeh et al , 2014). High levels of STC2 expression were correlated with worse prognoses of cervical cancer patients after RT (Shen et al , 2014).…”