Endocan, previously called endothelial cell specific molecule-1 (ESM-1), is over expressed in human tumors, and its serum levels are elevated in late-stage lung cancer and experimental tumor, as measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay or by immunohistochemistry. mRNA level of endocan is also recognized as one of the most significant molecular signatures with a poor prognosis of several types of cancer including lung cancer.
The research team led by Prof. Wang from Key Laboratory of Gene Resource Utilization for Severe Diseaseof Anhui medical University, study the endocan protein expression changes in colon and rectum cancer and this will be published on July 28, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
They analyzed expression of endocan in 72 tumor tissue samples of colorectal cancer as well as in 27 normal mucous membrane tissue samples using in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray, Western blot and reverse-transcript polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
There result indicated that the expression of endocan was higher in normal colon and rectum tissue samples than in cancerous tissue samples (mRNA = 92.6%, protein = 36%), and was lower in colorectal cancer tissue samples (mRNA = 70.4%, protein = 36.1%). No correlation was found between staining intensity and clinical parameters such as sex, age, tumor size and TNM stage. However, the expression of endocan was positively correlated with the tissue differentiation in colorectal cancer. Their findings highlighted that endocan may be a molecule target for diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.