[Ectopic expression and clinical significance of tissue factor/coagulation factor VII complex in colorectal cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of coagulation factor VII(FVII)/tissue factor(TF)complex in colorectal carcinoma (CRC)and its correlation with clinicopathologic factor. METHODS: The expression of coagulation factor VII protein was studied by immunohistochemistry and Western blot.The expression of tissue factor and coagulation factor VII at the mRNA levels were evaluated by quantitative realtime RT-PCR in 45 cases of CRC. RESULTS: (1) FVII overexpression was ectopicly detected in CRC specimens at protein level by immunohistochemistry and Western blot, but not in adjacent non-cancerous mucosa of colorectum;(2)FVII protein mainly localized in the cytoplasm of colon cancer cells.The positive ratios of FVII protein expression in stages I, II, III and IV by immunohistochemistry assay were 33.3%, 40.0%, 64.7% and 80.0% respectively(P=0.001); (3)The expression of FVII mRNA in CRC with hepatic metastasis was significantly higher than that in CRC without hepatic metastasis.The relative expression was 5.33+/-2.88 and 1.47+/-0.51 respectively(P=0.03). Overexpression FVII gene was unrelated with tumor size, differentiation, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and TNM staging.There existed some relation between the gene and protein level by Spearman correlation, r=0.58, P=0.003;(4)The expression of TF mRNA in CRC significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, hepatic metastasis and TNM staging.The expression of tissue factor was a critical factor to predict liver metastasis by logistic regression analysis(P=0.001). CONCLUSION: Colorectal cancer can ectopicly synthesize coagulation factor VII.Tissue factor expression may play a role in the process of developing hepatic metastasis.The microenvironment of high dose FVII protein may promote tumor metastasis.