The severity of neural invasion is associated with shortened survival in colon cancer

Liebl, Florian; Demir, Ihsan Ekin; Rosenberg, Robert; Boldis, Alexandra; Yildiz, Esra; Kujundzic, Kristina; Kehl, Timo; Dischl, Dominic; Schuster, Tibor; Maak, Matthias; Becker, Karen; Langer, Rupert; Laschinger, Melanie; Friess, Helmut; Ceyhan, Güralp O. (2013). The severity of neural invasion is associated with shortened survival in colon cancer. Clinical cancer research, 19(1), pp. 50-61. American Association for Cancer Research 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-2392

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PURPOSE

Neural invasion (NI) is a histopathologic feature of colon cancer that receives little consideration. Therefore, we conducted a morphologic and functional characterization of NI in colon cancer.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

NI was investigated in 673 patients with colon cancer. Localization and severity of NI was determined and related to patient's prognosis and survival. The neuro-affinity of colon cancer cells (HT29, HCT-116, SW620, and DLD-1) was compared with pancreatic cancer (T3M4 and SU86.86) and rectal cancer cells (CMT-93) in the in vitro three-dimensional (3D)-neural-migration assay and analyzed via live-cell imaging. Immunoreactivity of the neuroplasticity marker GAP-43, and the neurotrophic-chemoattractant factors Artemin and nerve growth factor (NGF), was quantified in colon cancer and pancreatic cancer nerves. Dorsal root ganglia of newborn rats were exposed to supernatants of colon cancer, rectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer cells and neurite density was determined.

RESULTS

NI was detected in 210 of 673 patients (31.2%). Although increasing NI severity scores were associated with a significantly poorer survival, presence of NI was not an independent prognostic factor in colon cancer. In the 3D migration assay, colon cancer and rectal cancer cells showed much less neurite-targeted migration when compared with pancreatic cancer cells. Supernatants of pancreatic cancer and rectal cancer cells induced a much higher neurite density than those of colon cancer cells. Accordingly, NGF, Artemin, and GAP-43 were much more pronounced in nerves in pancreatic cancer than in colon cancer.

CONCLUSION

NI is not an independent prognostic factor in colon cancer. The lack of a considerable biologic affinity between colon cancer cells and neurons, the low expression profile of colonic nerves for chemoattractant molecules, and the absence of a major neuroplasticity in colon cancer may explain the low prevalence and impact of NI in colon cancer.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology
UniBE Contributor:	Langer, Rupert
Subjects:	500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
ISSN:	1078-0432
Publisher:	American Association for Cancer Research
Language:	English
Submitter:	Andrea Arnold
Date Deposited:	07 Apr 2014 09:29
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:31
Publisher DOI:	10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-2392
PubMed ID:	23147996
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/45925