Prognostic and clinic-pathological significances of HOXB8, ILK and FAT4 expression in colorectal cancer

Introduction
HOXB8 is a protein that was found to promote cancer proliferation and invasion. ILK is a protein kinase which has a role in carcinogenesis. FAT4 is a tumor homologue that has a role in EMT and autophagy regulation.

Aim
To identify expression of Human HOXB8, Integrin-linked kinase (ILK1) and FAT homolog 4 (FAT4) in colorectal cancer (CRC) correlating their expression with pathological, prognostic and clinical parameters of CRC.

Material and methods
We assessed the expression of HOXB8, ILK and FAT4 in fifty CRC patients and ten samples from nearby non-neoplastic colonic mucosa using immunohistochemistry.

Results
The expression of HOXB8 and ILK in CRC was positively associated with high tumor grade, advanced tumor stage, lymph node involvement (p < 0.001), occurrence of distant metastases (p = 0.003 and 0.024 respectively), higher incidence of tumor recurrence (p = 0.03, p < 0.001 respectively), worse survival rates (p = 0.038 and 0.003 respectively). The expression of FAT4 in CRC was correlated with lower grade, early stage of the tumor, absence of lymph node involvement (p < 0.001) and lack of distant metastases (p = 0.011). High FAT4 expression was associated with absence of tumor recurrence (p < 0.001) and favorable survival rates (p < 0.001 and 0.003).

Conclusions
High immunohistochemical expression of HOXB8 and ILK in addition to low immunohistochemical expression of FAT4 was associated with unfavorable prognostic and pathological parameters of CRC.