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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between immunohistochemical expression of Twist and the relevant clinicopathological features of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) in Egyptian patients. Background In Egypt, there is an increasing incidence of CRC, especially among patients of 40 years of age or less. Worldwide, many efforts have been made to find biomarkers to predict the behavior of CRC. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition is one of the central mechanisms that induces invasion and metastasis of tumors. Twist has been shown to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition and play a critical role in cancer metastasis. In addition, Twist proteins display oncogenic properties by preventing senescence and apoptosis. Materials and methods Using the standard immunohistochemical technique, we assessed Twist expression in 67 colorectal specimens, including 10 specimens from normal colonic mucosa, eight colonic adenoma, and 49 CRC cases, and correlated our results with the available clinicopathological parameters. Results Negative Twist cytoplasmic immunoreactivity was detected in all the normal colonic mucosa specimens, whereas 75% of adenomas and 85.7% of CRC showed positive Twist cytoplasmic expression. Negative Twist nuclear immunoreactivity was detected in all the normal colonic mucosa and adenoma specimens, whereas 44.9% of CRC showed positive nuclear Twist expression. Nucleocytoplasmic Twist expression was significantly associated with high-grade tumors, mucinous adenocarcinoma, and advanced Dukes«SQ» stage, and showed a high tendency to be associated with vascular invasion. Conclusion The negativity of Twist in normal colonic mucosa confirm Twist as an embryonic transcription factor that remains largely undetectable in healthy adult tissues and involved in oncogenesis and malignant transformation in CRC. Being negative in adenoma and expressed only in CRC, Twist nuclear translocation may be a late event in carcinogenesis. Nucleocytoplasmic Twist expression is associated with poor prognostic factors in CRC.

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