IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF CATHEPSIN-D EXPRESSION IN COLORECTAL-CANCER

Determination of cathepsin D has been proven to be prognostically rele vant in breast cancer. Cathepsin D, a lysosomal proteinase, is suggest ed to be causally involved in tumor invasion. In this study we investi gated cathepsin D expression immunohistochemically in 106 colorectal a denocarcinomas with the intention to evaluate its prognostic significa nce in this type of cancer. The majority of colorectal adenocarcinomas (93/106) stained positive for cathepsin, D, while normal colon was al most completely negative. A trend toward stronger staining intensity w as found in Dukes' stage C and D tumors (y < 0.1), but cathepsin D exp ression was found to have no influence on survival in this tumor type nor did it correlate with other known prognostic factors, e.g., histol ogical differentiation, lymph vessel invasion, or rate of proliferatio n. Staining of lymph node metastases did not differ significantly from that of their primary tumors. Stronger staining intensity of tumor ti ssue in the neighborhood of inflammatory cells may be due to paracrine activation.