Expression Patterns of CXCL12 and its Receptor in Colorectal Carcinoma

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (also called CXCL12) and its receptor, CXCR4, have a key role in the pathogenesis and tumorigenesis of various cancers. The aims of the current study were to quantitatively examine the expression of CXCR4 and CXCL12 genes in colorectal cancer and to correlate their expression degree with clinicopathological features.

Tumor tissue samples were collected from 47 patients with CRC. Total RNA was isolated from resection tissues and real-time PCR analysis was performed to examine mRNA levels of CXCL12 and CXCR4 genes.

No significant differences were observed for both CXCL12 and CXCR4 between tumor tissues and the adjacent non-affected tissues, although a borderline significant correlation (p = 0.052) were detected between gene expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in tumor tissues. Our results also indicated that there was no significant correlation between expression pattern of CXCL12/CXCR4 and clinicopathological variables.

Our data showed that CXCL12 and CXCR4 are expressed simultaneously in colorectal carcinoma tissues, suggesting that expression of these chemokines and corresponding receptors may play a pivotal role in colorectal tumorigenesis, although it cannot be as a predictive factor for disease progression.