Expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and CD44 variant exon 6 in primary tumors and corresponding lymph node metastases of colorectal carcinoma with Dukes' stage C or D.

AIM: To study changes in characteristics of colorectal carcinoma during the metastatic process and to investigate the correlation between cell proliferation activity and metastatic ability of patients with Dukes' stage C or D. METHODS: Formalin fixed and paraffin embedded materials of primary tumors and corresponding lymph node metastases resected from 56 patients with Dukes' stage C or D of colorectal carcinoma were stained immunohistochemically with proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and CD44 variant exon 6 (CD44v6). RESULTS: Thirty-one of 56 patients (55.4 %) expressed PCNA in the primary sites and 36 of 56 patients (64.3 %) expressed PCNA in the metastatic lymph nodes. A significant relation in PCNA expression was observed between the primary site and the metastatic lymph node (0.010