Purpose: The identification of prognostic markers for colorectal cancer (CRC) is needed for clinical practice. Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase A (ALDOA) and DEAD box p68 RNA helicase (DDX5) are commonly overexpressed in cancer and correlate with tumorigenesis. However, association between expression of ALDOA and DDX5, and CRC outcome has not been reported.
Patients and methods: We used 141 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens collected from 105 patients with CRC treated at the Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University and the People’s Hospital of Liuzhou. We performed tissue microarray based immunohistochemistry to explore expression features and prognostic value (overall survival, OS; disease-free survival, [DFS]) of ALDOA and DDX5 in CRC tissues. The prognostic values were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier analysis, and Cox regression analyses.
Results: ALDOA and DDX5 were highly expressed in CRC tissues and liver metastatic CRC tissues compared with normal glandular epithelium tissues (all p <0.05). Interestingly, primary CRC tissues highly expressing ALDOA or DDX5 had poor outcome (p <0.0001 for both OS and DFS for ALDOA; p =0.001 for OS; and p =0.011 for DFS for DDX5) compared with patients who had low expression of those proteins. Furthermore, multivariate Cox analysis showed that ALDOA/DDX5 combination was an independent risk factor for OS and ALDOA was an independent risk factor for DFS.
Conclusion: High levels of ALDOA and DDX5 contribute to the aggressiveness and poor prognosis of CRC. ALDOA/DDX5 expression could be a biomarkers for the prognosis of CRC.
Keywords: fructose-bisphosphate aldolase A, DEAD box p68 RNA helicase, colorectal cancer, X-tile, overall survival, disease free survival