Association Between the Protein Expressions of MutS Homologs and Villin and the Clinicopathological Characteristics in 310 Colon Cancer Patients

Objective To examine the relationship between the expressions of mismatch repair proteins, MutS homolog 2 (MSH2) and MutS homolog 6 (MSH6), and villin and the pathological features in patients with colon cancer.

Methods A total of 310 cases of colon cancer patients who were treated at our hospital between January 2017 and September 2021 were selected. The diagnosis of colon cancer of all patients was verified by pathological evaluation. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the protein expressions of MSH2, MSH6, and villin. The correlation between the expressions of MSH2, MSH6, and villin and the clinicopathological parameters in patients with colon cancer was analyzed accordingly. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between the expressions of MSH2, MSH6, and villin and the clinicopathological parameters of colon cancer. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to compare the 2-year survival rates of colon cancer patients with different expression levels of the proteins.

Results Among the 310 patients with colon cancer, the negative expression rates of MSH2, MSH6, and villin proteins in cancer tissues were 8.71% (27/310), 9.35% (29/310), and 46.13% (143/310), respectively. The negative expression rates of the three proteins in tissues adjacent to cancer were 3.23% (10/310), 4.19% (13/310), and 9.68% (30/310), respectively. The negative expression rates of the three proteins in cancer tissues were all higher than those in adjacent tissues (P<0.05). Regression analysis showed that the expression of MSH2 and MSH6 in cancer tissues was correlated with the age, the location of tumor lesions, tumor differentiation degree, and lymph node metastasis in colon cancer patients (P<0.05). The expression of villin in the cancer tissue is correlated with the depth of tumor infiltration, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and clinical staging status in colon cancer patients (P<0.05). The 2-year survival rates of patients with negative expressions of MSH2 and MSH6 were 51.85% and 44.83%, respectively, which were lower than those of patients with positive expression of MSH2 and MSH6 (79.51% and 80.43%, P<0.05). Thirteen patients (4.1%) had negative expression of MSH2, MSH6, and villin (referred to as "triple negative expressions") in the cancer tissues, and their 2-year survival rate was 30.77%, which was lower than that of colon cancer patients who did not meet the criteria for triple negative expressions (79.12% 235/297, P<0.05).

Conclusion The expressions of MSH2, MSH6, and villin are closely correlated with the pathological features of colon cancer patients. Evaluating the expression of the three proteins may assist in the clinical diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis evaluation of colon cancer.