The apoptotic and proliferation rate of tumour budding cells in colorectal cancer outlines a heterogeneous population of cells with various impacts on clinical outcome

• Published in: Histopathology 2014-03, Vol.64 (4), p.577-584
• Main Authors: Dawson, Heather, Koelzer, Viktor H, Karamitopoulou, Eva, Economou, Mary, Hammer, Caroline, Muller, Dominique-Elisabeth, Lugli, Alessandro, Zlobec, Inti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; anoikis; Apoptosis; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Caspase 3 - metabolism; Cell Proliferation; colorectal cancer; Colorectal Neoplasms - genetics; Colorectal Neoplasms - metabolism; Colorectal Neoplasms - pathology; Female; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Keratin-18 - metabolism; Ki-67 Antigen - metabolism; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Invasiveness - pathology; Peptide Fragments - metabolism; Prognosis; proliferation; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras); ras Proteins - genetics; Retrospective Studies; tumour budding
• ISSN: 0309-0167; 1365-2559
• DOI: 10.1111/his.12294

Aims In colorectal cancer (CRC), tumour buds represent an aggressive cell type at the invasive front with apparently low proliferation. The aim of this study was to determine proliferation and apoptotic rates of buds in comparison to tumour centre, front and mucosa. Methods and results Whole tissue sections from 188 CRC patients underwent immunohistochemistry for Ki67. Ten high‐power fields (HPFs) were evaluated in mucosa, tumour centre, tumour front and tumour buds (total = 40 HPFs/case). Caspase‐3 and M30 immunohistochemistry were performed on a multipunch tissue microarray from the same cohort. Ki67, caspase‐3 and M30 immunoreactivity were correlated with outcome. The average percentage of cells showing Ki67 positivity was 5.2% in mucosa, and was not significantly different between the centre and front of the tumour (38.2% and 34.9%; P