RNA expression of the molecular signature genes for metastasis in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is an endemic disease in the Western world. Search for molecular signatures present in primary tumors that predict tumor metastasis potential has been proposed and in particular, a 17-gene molecular signature is associated with poor survival in breast cancer, prostate cancer, meduloblastoma and lymphoma in a recent study. Using quantitative real-time PCR assay (qPCR), our study observed tumor-normal differential RNA expression in 15 of these 17 genes in a cohort of 52 stage III colorectal cancer patients (all P0.05), two distinct groups among these genes were observed with Spearman correlation scores >0.6 (P0.05), but the recurrence group had more patients with mucinous tumors (9/12 vs. 7/25, P<0.05) and more lymph node involvement (median 7.2 vs. 2.5, P