Glycoprotein CD44 variant 4 expression in tumour epithelial cells of patients with colorectal cancer

The aim of this study was to check if the expression of CD44v4 in epithelial cells of the colorectal cancer correlates with the pTN stage and the histopathological grade of malignancy--G. Samples of tumour tissue (TT), as well as those of healthy tissue (HT) and of tumour adjacent tissue (TAT) were obtained from 25 patients. An evaluation of the expression of CD44v4 was performed in a flow cytometer. The mean value of the percentage of epithelial cells with co-expression of CD44v4 was lower in pT2 stage than that in pT3 only in HT. The expression of CD44v4 in epithelial cells was higher in cases without lymph node metastases only in TAT. The expression of CD44v4 in epithelial cells was higher in G2 than in G3 degree only in TAT as well. According to the obtained results, it is difficult to state if CD44v4 can influence the progress of colorectal cancer.