Protein expression of ATP-binding cassette transporters ABCC10 and ABCC11 associates with survival of colorectal cancer patients

Purpose This study investigated the prognostic importance of protein expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters ABCC10 and ABCC11 in colorectal cancer. Methods Protein content of ABCC10 and ABCC11 was assessed in tumor tissue blocks of 140 colorectal cancer patients and associated with survival of patients with regard to 5-fluorouracil-based therapy. Results Low ABCC10 protein content in tumors increased hazard ratio of patient's death more than three times in comparison with high ABCC10-expressing tumors ( P = 0.004). In contrast, the low ABCC11 content increased the hazard ratio of cancer recurrence in patients almost four times ( P = 0.016). Analysis of patients treated with regimens based on 5-fluorouracil revealed that patients with low ABCC11 content in their tumors had shorter disease-free interval than those with higher content ( P = 0.024). Conclusions The present study shows for the first time that the protein expression of ABCC10 significantly associates with overall survival and the expression of ABCC11 with disease-free interval of colorectal cancer patients and provides strong impulse for further validation of their prognostic value in colorectal cancer.