Alterations of the Extracellular Matrix in Colorectal Carcinoma

The process of proliferation and invasion of tumor cells depends on changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) through the activation of enzymes and alterations in the profile of ECM components. Our aims were to investigate the mRNA and protein expression profiles of the ECM components, heparanase-1 (HPSE), heparanase-2 (HPSE2), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and syndecan-1 (SDC1) in neoplastic and nonneoplastic tissues of 24 patients with colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and to test for associations between the expression patterns of these genes with the presence or absence of lymph node metastases. This was a cross-sectional study in which 24 adult patients with CRC were admitted for resectional surgery. We analyzed the mRNA and protein expression patterns of the HPSE, HPSE2, MMP-9, and SDC1 genes by quantitative reverse transcription PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Additionally, we investigated whether variations exist in the expression of the ECM components between the affected tissue and nontumoral tissue collected from the same patient. Tissue samples were collected during the surgical resection. The data showed higher mRNA and protein expression levels of HPSE2 (p = 0.0058), MMP-9 (p = 0.0268), and SDC1 (p = 0.0002) in tumor samples when compared to the adjacent non-neoplastic tissues. There was, however, only an increase in the HPSE protein levels in the tumoral tissues. Increased expression of HPSE2 was observed in patients with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.031). This elevation in HPSE2 mRNA expression in patients with lymph node metastases potentially indicates that it may participate in driving colorectal carcinoma progression.