Expression and significance of new candidate tumor suppressor gene N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2 in colorectal cancer

OBJECTIVE: To determine the expression of new candidate tumor suppressor gene N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2(Ndrg2) in colorectal cancer with different differentiation, and analyze its clinical significance. METHODS: Specimens of 50 colorectal cancer patients with different differentiation were collected. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to examine the expression of Ndrg2. Colorectal cancer tissue array in large scale was applied to analyze the expression of Ndrg2 and the statistics analysis was performed referring to the patients information of the array. RESULTS: Among 50 cases, Ndrg2 expression level of colorectal cancer was significantly lower in 32 cases as compared to adjacent and normal tissue of the same individual, while Ndrg2 expression of adjacent tissue was significantly lower than that of normal tissue. Ndrg2 protein levels increased from poor-differentiated to well-differentiated carcinomas(P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of Ndrg2 in different differentiated colorectal cancer tissues show a significant distinction. Ndrg2 may be involved in the regulation of differentiation in colorectal cancer.