Abstract:
Objective To explore the expression of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and its correlation with the clinicopathological parameters of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.
Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of PSMA in colorectal cancer and adjacent normal tissues obtained from 90 patients from Alenabio company, Xi'an, China. CD31 staining was also performed as a reference. The correlation between PSMA expression and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed.
Results The expression of PSMA was absent in the adjacent normal colorectal tissues. However, a high PSMA staining rate (76.7%) was observed in colorectal cancer tissues. Moreover, PSMA staining was not observed in cancer cells, but in tumor-associated neo-vasculature. The statistical analysis showed that the PSMA staining scores were significantly different based on the age and histological type. The PSMA staining scores in the elderly group (≥60 years old) and the common adenocarcinoma group were higher (P < 0.05).
Conclusions The percentage of PSMA-positive colorectal cancer cells in the 90 CRC patients was high and PSMA was mainly expressed in the endothelial cells of tumor-associated neo-vasculature. Thus, PSMA could be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.