Background and objectives: Although there was growing evidence supporting the hypothesis that Notch1 was one of the few candidate genes linked with colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility, the precise level of Notch1 protein expression in benign and malignant colorectal diseases was still unknown. Our study has investigated the Notch1 expression in benign and malignant colorectal diseases as well as to investigate the role and clinicopathological significance of aberrant expression of Notch1 in CRC.
Methods: The protein expression of Notch1 was examined by immunohistochemistry in 901 clinical specimens with colorectal diseases, including 220 patients with ulcerative colitis, 232 patients with colorectal adenoma and 449 patients with colorectal cancer. Associations between the expression of Notch1 and various clinicopathological features, as well as survival status, were studied.
Results: Cytoplasmic Notch1 was expressed in 7.7% of patients with ulcerative colitis, 14.7% of patients with colorectal adenoma and 58.0% of patients with colorectal cancer, respectively. Colorectal cancer patients with high expression levels of Notch1 showed lower overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates than those patients with low Notch1 expression.
Conclusions: Expression level of Notch1 was gradually increased from precancerous lesions to cancer. It might play as an oncogene in the CRC development, and might be potentially used as a biomarker for prognosis of CRCs.