Immunohistochemical study of β-catenin in experimental colon carcinoma of rat

Colorectal adenocarcinoma is one of the most prevalent and treatable malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. Recent studies on colorectal neoplasia indicates β-catenin gene mutation and its intranuclear accumulation inside hyperplastic cells. Therefore, β-catenin may be an important prognosis and diagnostic index of this disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the nuclear beta-catenin expression in hyperplastic cells of colon following treatment with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine. In this study, 56 wistar male rats with the age of 12 weeks and body weight of 200-300g were selected and randomly allocated into two equal treatment and control groups. In the treatment group, two subcutaneous injections of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine every week at a dose rate of 40 mg/kg were used for 4 weeks to induce colon carcinoma. The control group was given normal saline solution similarly. After 8 weeks, tissues samples of distal colon were collected from both groups for preparation of tissue sections and immunohistochemistry. Immunohistopathological study of samples revealed that nuclear β-catenin expression in the treatment group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.01). The study indicates that the expression of nuclear beta-catenin can increase in hyperplasia and neoplasia of colon.