Positive relationship between expression of CD44 and hepatic metastases in colorectal cancer

This study was performed to determine the relationship between the expression of CD44, p53 and NM23 and the metastatic potential of colorectal cancer. Frozen sections of 56 cases of colorectal cancer were immunohistologically examined for the expression of CD44, p53 and NM23. Positive immunoreactivity was found in 30 of 56 cases (54%) in CD44, 26 of 56 (46%) in p53 and 20 of 56 in NM23 (36%), respectively. There was no significant relationship between the expression of these molecules and clinicopathological findings such as age, sex, size, location of tumor, histological type, serosal invasion, peritoneal dissemination, lymph node metastasis, extramural venous spread and tumor stage; however, when examining the relationship between the expression of these molecules and prognosis in terms of hepatic metastasis and recurrence after curative operation, a significant association was seen in the expression of CD44, but none in p53 and NM23. It was suggested that expression of CD44 could be used as a possible indicator to predict metastatic potential of colorectal cancer.