ROR1 expression as a biomarker for predicting prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer

There is a lack of reliable prognosis biomarker in the current treatment of colorectal cancer. The receptor-tyrosine-kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) is overexpressed and associated with poor prognosis in certain tumors. This study aimed to explore the prognostic significance of ROR1 in colorectal cancer. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry showed that the expression of ROR1 in colorectal cancer was significantly higher than that in the adjacent normal tissues. ROR1 expression was positively associated with the clinical stage and lymph-node metastasis (p < 0.01). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that patients with higher ROR1 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival (p < 0.01). Multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed that ROR1 is an independent prognostic marker in colorectal cancer (p = 0.002, HR = 2.08, 95% CI: 1.314-3.292). Thus, our study demonstrated that ROR1 expression is correlated with malignant attributes and may serve as a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target for colorectal cancer.