Thrombomodulin expression in colorectal carcinoma is protective and correlates with survival

Thrombomodulin (TM) is an endothelial receptor that exhibits anticoagulant, antifibrinolytic and anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting thrombin and cellular adhesion. In this study, the expression and significance of TM was examined in primary colorectal cancer and its prognostic implications explored. TM immunostaining was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections, from primary lesions of 200 patients with colorectal carcinoma. Institutional Ethical approval was granted and clinical data retrieved from patients' records. All normal colonic tissue expressed TM on endothelial cells. TM tumour cell expression was demonstrated in 53 (26.5%) cases and 147 (73.5%) showed no neoplastic cell staining. On univariate and multivariate analysis TM expression on tumour cells correlated significantly with tumour stage, differentiation, Jass score and 5 year survival. TM expression decreases as overall stage and tumour size increase (P=0.03). In all, 91% TM positive tumours were well differentiated and 85% of TM negative tumours were poorly differentiated (P<0.01). Five year survival rates of patients with positive and negative TM expression were 71 and 41%, respectively. Survival rate was poorer in those patients who were TM negative compared with those who were positive (P<0.01). A total of 101 (50.5%) of the cases were node negative. In this group, 5 year survival rates of patients with positive and negative TM expression were 87.5 and 37.8%, respectively, demonstrating a poorer survival rate for those who are node negative and TM negative at the time of surgery (P<0.001). This study demonstrates that loss of TM is a key indicator in tumour biology and prognosis.