Down Expression of Zyxin is Associated with Down Expression of p53 in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC), which is among the most prevalent cancers worldwide, is caused by environmental and genetic factors. It has been shown that the p53 gene is associated with CRC pathogenesis; moreover, Zyxin (ZYX) may play a role in p53 level and activity. Therefore, the present research aimed to investigate the levels of P53 and ZYX genes and proteins in CRC tumor samples. Cancerous tissues (n=31) and matched non-cancerous tissues (n=31) were randomly obtained from 31 patients with CRC. Total RNA was extracted using RNXplus, and gene expressions were assessed by Real-time PCR. Furthermore, the Western blot technique was used to investigate the expression of ZYX and P53 proteins. The obtained results revealed that the expression of ZYX and p53 genes in cancerous tissues showed no significant difference compared to matched non-cancerous tissues. On the other hand, measuring protein expression using the Western blotting technique indicated that the ZYX (P=0.0081) and p53 (P=0.0065) expression in tumor tissues significantly decreased compared to those in matched non-cancerous tissues. Correlation analysis indicated a significant correlation between ZYX and P53 proteins (r=0.746, P=0.013). Based on our findings, ZYX might have a suppressive function in CRC and is associated with P53.