MTSS1 overexpression correlates with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer

The aims of this study were to investigate metastasis suppressor 1 (MTSS1) expression in benign and malignant colorectal tissues and to explore its significance in the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.

MTSS1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in CRC, colorectal adenomatous polyp (precancerous lesion) and normal colorectal tissues. The relationship between MTSS1 expression in CRC tissues and clinicopathologic factors was analyzed with Mann-Whitney U test. MTSS1 protein expression was observed by Western blot in CRC tissues and adjacent nontumor colorectal tissues. Two factors between MTSS1 expression and CRC patient tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage were analyzed by Spearman rank correlation analysis. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were employed to compare the overall survival between MTSS1 negative/weak positive expression group and MTSS1 strong positive expression group.

MTSS1 expression rates were significantly higher in CRC tissues (99 out of 135, 73.30%) than that in normal colorectal tissues (one out of seven, 14.29%), nontumor colorectal tissues (six out of 32, 18.75%), and adenomatous polyp tissues (four out of 15, 26.67%; P = 0.003, P < 0.001, P = 0.001, respectively). The upregulated MTSS1 expression in CRC tissues was significantly correlated to poor differentiation (P = 0.005), tissue invasion (P = 0.018), high preoperative CEA level (P = 0.022), present lymph node metastasis (P = 0.003), and high TNM stage (P = 0.002). MTSS1 expression was positively correlated with clinical TNM stage, that suggested the more advanced clinical TNM stage corresponding to the higher expression level of MTSS1 (r(s) = 0.327, P < 0.05). Western blotting demonstrated that MTSS1 expression was upregulated in 25 of 32 CRC tissues (75.0%) compared to corresponding adjacent nontumor colorectal tissues. The overall 5-year survival of MTSS1 strong positive expression CRC patients was significantly shorter than that of MTSS1 negative and weakly positive expression group. In multivariate analysis, MTSS1 expression maintained independent prognostic influence on overall survival (P = 0.004).

MTSS1 may be a good biomarker to be applied in the clinical setting to predict the prognosis of CRC patients with completely resected.