Abstract
Although decreased or lack of expression of Bcl-2 has been correlated with advanced tumor stage and shortened patient survival in colorectal cancer (CRC), its value in predicting the recurrence has not been well explored. Therefore, we assessed the usefulness of phenotypic expression of Bcl-2 in non-Hispanic Caucasian patients with CRCs in identifying risk of recurrence. Archival tissues of 92 Stage II and 66 Stage III primary CRCs were evaluated for immunohistochemical expression of Bcl-2. None of these patients received either pre- or post-surgical adjuvant therapies. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards methods were used to estimate the rates of recurrence and survival according to Bcl-2 expression. Decreased expression of Bcl-2 was associated with an increased rate of recurrence in patients with Stage II CRCs (5-year log-rank test P=0.0015; Hazard Ratio (HR)=3.90, 95%C.I.:1.55–9.77) but not with Stage III CRCs (5-year log-rank test P=0.6058; HR=1.07, 95%C.I.:0.47–2.45) after adjusting for other demographic and clinicopathological features. Furthermore, decreased expression of Bcl-2 was an indicator of short survival in patients with Stage II CRCs but not with Stage III CRCs. Thus, decreased or lack of Bcl-2 expression in primary CRCs may serve as a molecular biomarker of high risk of recurrence for Caucasian patients with Stage II CRCs. These findings might be useful in identifying biologically aggressive phenotypes of Stage II CRCs, and may aid the oncologist in designing maximally appropriate therapeutic regimens.