Association of TWIST1 mRNA Expression with the Clinicopathological Characteristics of Colorectal Cancer Patients

Abstract

Introduction: TWIST is a key role player in the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), which is determinative for the tumor progression and metastasis. The main exploratory goal of this study was to access the association of TWIST1 mRNA expression with clinical pathological parameters of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) patients. Materials and Methods: Seventy formalin-fixed/paraffin-embedded colorectal tumor specimens were evaluated for TWIST1 mRNA expression by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Results: The mean Relative Quantification (RQ) of TWIST1 mRNA expression in the CRC patients was 10.5 ± 2.7 No significant association was observed between age (p = 0.786), gender (p = 0.163), tumor location (p = 0.300), tumor size (p = 0.438), and the TWIST1 RQ. The mean value of TWIST1 RQ was significantly (p = 0.040) higher in the patients with nodal invasion in comparison with the patients without nodal invasion. The subgroup of tumor specimens with T3-4 stages had significantly (p = 0.024) higher mean TWIST1 RQ than T1-2 stage specimens. Moreover, the mean value of TWIST1 RQ of the tumors with distant metastasis was significantly (p = 0.032) higher than tumors with no metastasis. Conclusions: Taking together, high TWIST1 mRNA expression was associated with high nodal stage, advanced clinical stage, and distant metastasis. Therefore, TWIST1 can be a biomarker for CRC patients. © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.