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Updated: Apr 7, 2026

The Soft Agar Colony Formation Assay
Published on: October 27, 2014
Analysis of Wnt and β-catenin Expression in Advanced Colorectal Cancer
Naohiro Yoshida1, Tetsushi Kinugasa2, Koichi Ohshima3
1Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan.
Background:
Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in colorectal cancer (CRC). Wnt has many sub-types and it is uncertain which of them affect progression of CRC.
Patients And Methods:
We analysed 201 patients who underwent curative surgery for CRC. We investigated the relationship between the expression of Wnt and β-catenin proteins and prognosis using immunohistochemistry.
Results:
The high expression of Wnt1 correlated with high expression of nuclear and cytoplasmic β-catenin (p=0.0004, p=0.02). The high expression of Wnt5a also correlated with high expression of membrane β-catenin (p=0.03). In multivariate analysis, lymph node metastasis (p=0.046) and high expression of nuclear β-catenin (p=0.04) were independent prognostic factors for survival.
Conclusion:
The expression of nuclear β-catenin is a useful predictive marker in CRC. It is suggested that Wnt1 may be the main activator of the β-catenin signaling pathway and that Wnt5a may stabilize adherens junctions, thereby suppressing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
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