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Expression of embryonic stem cell marker Oct-4 and its prognostic significance in rectal adenocarcinoma

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Chinese Journal of Cancer Research

Abstract

Objective

Recent evidence suggests that Oct-4 is highly expressed in several cancers, and its expression contributes to tumor growth. In this study, we investigated the level of Oct-4 expression in rectal adenocarcinoma, and evaluated the prognostic significance of Oct-4 expression in these cases.

Methods

The immunohistochemical expression of Oct-4 was evaluated in 52 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded postoperative rectal adenocarcinoma tissue samples. The impact of the immunoreactivity of Oct-4 in regard to clinical outcome was determined by Kaplan-Meier and log-rank.

Results

The expression level of Oct-4 ranged from 0 to 18.5%. There was no significant association between Oct-4 expression and gender (P=0.772), age (P=0.123), clinical stage (P=0.391), and histological grade (P=0.056). The 3-year local recurrence-free rates with negative and positive expression of Oct-4 were 83.5% and 75.0%, respectively (P=0.583). The 3-year metastasis-free rates with negative and positive expression of Oct-4 were 88.6% and 61.9%, respectively (P=0.035). The 3-year overall survival rates with negative and positive expression of Oct-4 were 77.9% and 49.0%, respectively (P=0.037).

Conclusion

The results suggest that embryonic stem cell marker Oct-4 expression may have prognostic significance in patients with rectal adenocarcinoma. However, to confirm this more and larger studies are required.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215004, China

    Chun-gen Xing

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215004, China

    Xue-guan Lu, Fang Zhou & Xiao-ping Xu

  3. Department of Pathology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215004, China

    Yong-sheng Zhang

Authors
  1. Chun-gen Xing
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  2. Xue-guan Lu
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  3. Yong-sheng Zhang
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  4. Fang Zhou
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  5. Xiao-ping Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xue-guan Lu.

Additional information

This work was supported by the grant from Jiangsu Natural Science Program(No. BK2009126).

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Xing, Cg., Lu, Xg., Zhang, Ys. et al. Expression of embryonic stem cell marker Oct-4 and its prognostic significance in rectal adenocarcinoma. Chin. J. Cancer Res. 22, 106–111 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11670-010-0106-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11670-010-0106-8

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