COLORECTAL-CANCER PROGNOSIS AND EXPRESSION OF EXON-V6-CONTAINING CD44PROTEINS

CD44 variants containing v6 confer metastatic potential to rat carcino ma cell-lines. In man, CD44v6 is increasingly expressed during colorec tal tumour progression. In 68 colorectal carcinoma patients, survival analysis showed that CD44v6 expression in the tumours was associated w ith tumour-related death. In patients who had an apparently radical re section of their primary tumour, CD44v6 expression had prognostic valu e independent of Dukes' stage. CD44v6 expression may reflect propensit y for metastasis after apparently curative surgery, making adjuvant th erapy an option in these patients.