Stem cell gene Girdin: a potential early liver metastasis predictor of colorectal cancer

The objective of this study is to investigate the liver's metastasis-related genes and the relationship between Girdin protein expression and clinical and pathological characteristics and prognosis in colorectal cancer. The differential expression of genes between tumor cells from cases with liver metastasis and those from cases without liver metastasis were detected using an RT2 Profiler (TM) PCR Array. The expression of the stem cell gene Girdin was analyzed using immunohistochemistry staining. Subsequently, the relationship between Girdin and clinicopathological parameters of colorectal cancer was determined. The Girdin protein was verified as a gene related to liver metastasis and was expressed positively in 161 (37.01 %) of the 435 cases examined. The expression of Girdin protein was related to histological grade and distant metastasis (P = 0.007 and 0.007, respectively). After analyzing survival rates, cases with highly expressed Girdin protein were shown to attain a significantly higher rate of liver metastasis and poorer postoperative, disease-specific survival than those with no or low expressed Girdin protein (P = 0.001). In the Cox regression test, the depth of tumor invasion, histological grade, duke's stage, distant metastasis, and the Girdin protein were detected as an independent prognostic factor (0.020, 0.032, 0.001, 0.001, and 0.010, respectively). The Girdin protein may be a potential new early liver metastasis biomarker of colorectal cancer.