Clinicopathological Significance of Stromelysin-3 Expression in Colorectal Cancer

Objective: Stromelysin-3 (ST3) is a member of the matrix metalloproteinases and suggested to play a role in tissue remodeling observed in growth and metastasis of tumors. ST3 overexpression in breast cancer is associated with a worse outcome. Our aims were to analyze ST3 expression in primary colorectal tumors and metastases, and further to identify relationships of the expression to clinicopathological factors. Materials and Methods: ST3 expression was immunohistochemically analyzed in 200 primary colorectal adenocarcinomas and 36 corresponding lymph node metastases. Results: Scoring was performed by counting the percentages of positive cells and the percentages of positive areas. One hundred and one (51%) cases showed ≤5% positive cells and 99 (49%) >5% positive cells. One hundred and two (51%) cases showed ≤30% positive area and 98 (49%) >30% positive area. ST3 expression determined by both scoring methods was individually related to females, distally located tumors, infiltrative growth pattern and microsatellite stability. No relationship was found with age, Dukes’ stage, differentiation and survival. Conclusions: These results suggest that ST3 protein was more involved in the pathway of colorectal cancer development in females, distal locations, infiltrative growth patterns and microsatellite stability.