The significance of a group of molecular markers and clinicopathological factors in identifying colorectal liver metastasis.

Abstract

Liver metastasis is a major factor associated with poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer. The objective of this study is to determine the possible indicators in identifying the risk of liver metastasis.
We randomly selected 114 colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases and 114 patients without liver metastasis. Several clinicopathological factors were analyzed for the correlation with liver metastasis. PTEN, CapG, MFAP3L, EGFR and HSP-70, chosen from PI3K/ AKT pathway, were evaluated by immunohistochemistry staining. The predictive value of those 5 markers for colorectal liver metastasis was evaluated.
Univariate analysis showed that histological type, invasion depth, microscopic tumor embolus and lymph node metastasis were associated with liver metastasis. In multivariate analysis, only microscopic tumor embolus and lymph node metastasis were associated with liver metastasis. PTEN, EGFR, MFAP3L, CapG and HSP-70 were significantly correlated with colorectal liver metastasis. Grouped as a marker set, EGFR, MFAP3L and CapG make an effective predictor for colorectal liver metastasis, wherein the sensitivity and specificity are 92.38% and 94.39%, respectively.
Microscopic tumor embolus and lymph node metastasis are risk factors for colorectal liver metastasis. As a molecular marker set, EGFR, MFAP3L and CapG exhibited both high sensitivity and high specificity in predicting colorectal liver metastasis.