TGM2 Is a Novel Marker for Prognosis and Therapeutic Target in Colorectal Cancer

Transglutaminase 2 (TGM2) plays a role in cell growth and survival through the antiapoptosis signaling pathway. We analyzed TGM2 gene expression in 91 paired cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) and noncancerous regions and seven CRC cell lines to demonstrate the importance of TGM2 expression for the prediction of prognosis of CRC. TGM2 expression was higher in CRC tissue than in corresponding normal tissue by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (P = .015). Patients in the high TGM2 expression group showed a poorer overall survival rate than those in the low expression group (P = .001), indicating that the increase in TGM2 expression was an independent prognostic factor. TGM2 was also expressed in the seven CRC cell lines. The in vitro proliferation assay showed that TGM2 expression is involved with tumor growth. The present study suggests that TGM2 is useful as a predictive marker for patient prognosis and may be a novel therapeutic target for CRC.