Clinical Significance of Plasma TGF-beta1 in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Bae, Sun Young; Lim, Bum Joon; Choi, Sun Keun; Shin, Hoon; Lim, Chang Ki; Lee, Gwan Sun; Hur, Yoon Seok; Lee, Keon Young; Kim, Sei Joong; Ahn, Seung Ik; Hong, Kee Chun; Shin, Seok Hwan; Woo, Ze Hong

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a polypeptide with wide-ranging effects including cellular proliferation, differentiation, immunosuppression, apoptosis, and matrix remodeling. It has been reported that TGF-beta1 is closely associated with cancer tissues, especially in colorectal cancer. In this study, we measured the pre-operative and post-operative plasma levels of TGF-beta1 sequentially to evaluate the clinical significance of TGF-beta1 in colorectal cancer.
METHODS
Eighty-six patients who underwent resection of colorectal cancer from Jan to May in 2001 were included in the study. The plasma levels of TGF-beta1 of the 86 patients were examined before and after surgical resections of tumor. We also examined the each plasma TGF-beta1 level at 2 weeks and 4 weeks after opertaion in 69 and 33 patients, respectively. Plasma TGF-beta1 level was measured using the TGF-beta1 assay kit.
RESULTS
The plasma levels of TGF-beta1 in patients with colorectal cancer were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group (p<0.05). After surgical resection, plasma TGF-beta1 levels decreased in the examined 69 patients, but it had no statistical significance. There was a marked decrease in plasma TGF-beta1 level of 33 patients at 4 weeks after operation (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
Further studies with a larger number of patients are necessary to evaluate the significance of plasma TGF-beta1 as a predictive factor of colorectal cancer.