CXCR4 and CXCL12 expression in colorectal cancer and its significance

Objective:This study was to investigate the expressions of CXCL12/CXCR4,and explore its correlation to clinicopathologic factors of colorectal cancer.Methods:Immunoh-istochemistry staining was performed to detect the expression of CXCR4 and CXCL12 in 65 primary lesions of colorectal cancer,30 normal colorectal tissues adjacent to cancer lesion.Results:The positive rates of CXCL4 and CXCR12 protein in colorectal cancer tissues were 67.7%and 60.0%,respectively.No expression of CXCL4 and CXCR12 in 30 specimens of normal colorectal epithelium.Stronger expressions of CXCR4 and CXCL12 protein were observed in colorectal cancer specimens,compared with that in normal tissues.CXCR4 and CXCL12 expression were closely related to tumor-infiltrating or lymph node metastasis(P0.01),but had no relationship with age,gender,lesion,lesion length,pathological type and histological differentiation (P0.05).Conclusions:Up-regulated CXCR4 expressionis associated with the carcinogenesis and metastasis of colorectal cancer.CXCL12/CXCR4 is intensively expressed in colorectal cancer.The levels of CXCR4 and CXCL12 are positively correlated to progression and metastasis of colorectal cancer.