Investigating FGF11 gene transcription level in cancer cells among colorectal cancer patients

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-caused death around the world. Reports of the unnecessary transcription of family genes of the fibroblast growth factor in several types of cancer indicate the role of these factors in tumorgenesis and progression of cancer. Therefore, the level of FGF11 transcription was evaluated in colorectal cancer tumor tissues relative to the normal tissue adjacent to cancer.
In this study, 30 tumor tissue samples and 30 adjacent tumor tissue samples were collected from patients with colorectal cancer among those referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital. After extracting the entire RNA from the samples and synthesizing cDNA, quantitative real-time PCR method was used to evaluate the level of FGF11 transcription in the mRNA level.
The level of FGF11 transcription in cancer tissues was 1.55 times higher than in non-cancer tissues, but a significant difference was not found between the two healthy and tumor groups (P= 0.402). Increased FGF11 transcription in patients with stages III and IV (high stage) was significantly different from those with stages 0, I and II (low stage) (P=0.057). The transcription of this gene did not show a significant relationship with tumor grade (P= 0.193), age (P= 0.896), size of tumor (P= 0.428), and lymphatic invasion (P= 0.651).
Based on the results, increasing the FGF11 transcription in atages III and IV of colorectal cancer than that at stages 0, I and II may indicate the potential role of this gene in tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer, while further investigations are required in this regard.