PyNPase expression in human colon cancer

Although colorectal cancer tissue is rich in pyrimidine nucleoside phosphorylase (PyNPase), there is no consensus as to whether cancer cells or stromal cells predominately express PyNPase. We micro-dissected OCT compound embedded frozen tissue sections into epithelial and stromal components and then analyzed the extracted samples separately. The PyNPase expression level was higher in stromal cells than in cancer cells and the difference increased with inflammation induced by the immunostimulator OK432. These results suggest that stromal cells are the major PyNPase source in colorectal cancer.