Significance of AKT2 and PTEN protein expressions and their correlation with human colon cancer

Objective To detect the expression of AKT2 in human colon cancer and understand its relationship with PTEN.Methods The expressions of AKT2 and PTEN were detected in 30 patients with normal colonic tissues,30 patients with colon adenoma tissues,and 64 patients with colon carcinoma tissues by immunohistochemical SP staining method.Results The positive expressive rate of PTEN presented a trend of progressive decrease from normal tissues,adenoma tissues to colon carcinoma tissues,while the positive expression rate of AKT2 presented a trend of progressive increase.PTEN expression was obviously higher in normal colon tissues than in colon adenoma tissues and colon cancer tissues(χ2=68.855,P0.05).However,the expression of AKT2 in colon adenoma tissues and colon cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal colon tissues(χ2=37.574,P0.01).With the decrease of differentiation degree in colon cancer,metastasis of lymph node and increase of Dukes staging,the positive expression rate of AKT2 increased(P0.05).AKT2 and PTEN expressions were negatively correlated(r=0.143,n=64,P0.05).Conclusion The results demonstrate that down-regulation or loss of PTEN expression may lead to abnormally high expression of AKT2,which is related to the genesis and progression of colon cancer.