Abstract
We have found that the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein, Bcl-w, was frequently expressed in colorectal adenocarcinomas, with 69/75 showing positive staining with anti-Bcl-w IgG. Adenomas demonstrated a much lower frequency of Bcl-w expression (only 1 of 17), as did adenocarcinomas from other epithelial tissues such as breast (0/8), stomach (1/12) and cervix (0/12). Bcl-w status could be related to the histopathological classification of the tumours, with TNM stage III tumours showing significantly higher levels of expression than tumours of better prognostic grade (at P = 0.009). Those patients with node involvement also had tumours with significantly elevated levels of Bcl-w (at P = 0.02), compared to those which were node-negative. The results suggest that Bcl-w could play a general role in the progression from adenoma to adenocarcinoma in the colorectal epithelium. Currently, more data are being collected to allow us to assess the importance of Bcl-w for disease progression and patient survival. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign
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16 November 2011
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Some of the data included in this study was originally presented as a poster at the joint IACR/BACR meeting, at Trinity College, Dublin, June 1998. The poster contained data from 50 cases and showed the same trends as reported here. The addition of new cases to the study has shown that the relationship between p53 and Bcl-w expression is significant, although we were unable to report this as such in the initial presentation. In the initial study we did report that tetraploid tumours had significantly elevated Bcl-w expression. Although we still see a strong association between increased ploidy and increased Bcl-w expression, we can no longer report this as being significant.
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Wilson, J., Nostro, M., Balzi, M. et al. Bcl-w expression in colorectal adenocarcinoma. Br J Cancer 82, 178–185 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.1999.0897
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.1999.0897
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