Bone morphogenetic protein 7 is associated with the nodal invasion of colon cancer

Environmental and genetic factors interact in the process and treatment of colon cancer, although the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The aim of the study was to examine the role of whether bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) is involved in the progression of colon cancer under local intratumoral infiltration lymphocytes. A total of 46 cases of pathologically confirmed specimens were obtained from patients with nodal invasion of colon cancer. The patients were subdivided into three groups based on the nodal invasion stages (N0, N1 and N2). Eleven cases without nodal invasion of colon cancer served as the control group (N0). The phenotype of CD45⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD25⁺ and CD56⁺ cells and the expression of BMP7 were confirmed by immunofluorescence. The association between BMP7 expression and CD45⁺/CD4⁺CD25⁺/CD8⁺ cells infiltration was analyzed. The density of CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells within the tumor was associated with nodal invasion in patients with colon cancer. More importantly, the expression of BMP7 was observed in the majority of the cancer tissues. The co-expression pattern of BMP7 in colon cancer cells and intratumor CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells was associated with nodal invasion of colon cancer. In conclusion, the results have shown that the co-expression of BMP7 is inversely associated with the infiltration of CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells of colon cancer. The results suggest the combination of adaptive immunotherapy and biological drugs impact the treatment strategy for colon cancer in distinct clinical settings.