[P21-ras protein in tumors of the large intestine]

We carried out a prospective analysis of cytoplasmatic accumulation of p21ras protein-a Ki-ras gene product. The study was completed on the group of 80 patients with sporadic colorectal cancer. p21ras protein was detected immunohistochemically with use of NCC-001 antibody. In 64/80 cases (80%) we found p21ras protein accumulation in the tumor. We found that the protein accumulation is present more often in poorly differentiated cancers 91.3% (42/46) than in well and intermediate differentiated 64.7% (22/34) and in the right side of the colon 100% (14/14) than in left side colon 53.3% (14/24). The differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). We found no statistically significant differences in survival time after surgery in correlation with p21ras accumulation in tumor. Our result suggest that p21ras accumulation is not a solitary prognostic factor in sporadic colorectal cancer.