Significance of Bcl-xL in human colon carcinoma

AIM: To investigate the clinical significance of Bcl-xL gene in the pathogenesis of human colon carcinoma.METHODS: Fifty-six pair tissue samples from patients with colon cancer were collected, and protein level of the Bcl-xL gene was measured by immunohistochemistry method. The correlation of Bcl-xL expression with clinical index was evaluated. After human colon cancer cell line HT29 was transfected with Bcl-xL small interfering RNA (siRNA), the anchorage-independent growth of cancer cells was detected by colony formation in soft agar and invasion ability of cancer cells was determined by a transwell model.RESULTS: The Bcl-xL expression was higher in cancerous tissue samples than in normal tissue samples (38.78 ±11.36 vs 0.89 ± 0.35, P ＜ 0.001), and was associated with the pathological grade, lymphnode metastasis and Duke's stage of colorectal carcinoma. Transfection with Bcl-xL siRNA inhibited the colony formation and invasion ability of human colon cancer cell line HT29 in vitro.CONCLUSION: Bcl-xL gene plays an important role in carcinogenesis of human colorectal carcinoma and is associated with malignant biological behaviors of human colorectal carcinoma.