Background: Expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) has been shown to increase in colorectal cancer. We examined the correlation between expression of IGF-1 and IGF-1R and clinicopathological factors in colorectal cancer.
Patients and methods: A prospective study was conducted of 210 colorectal cancer patients that underwent resection from January 2002 to December 2004. The clinicopathological data was correlated to expression of IGF-1 and IGF-1R obtained from immunohistochemical analysis. Statistical analysis was carried using univariate and multivariate analysis.
Results: IGF1 and IGF-1R staining was positive in 169 (80%) and 139 (66%) cases, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed significant correlation between expression of IGF-1 and tumor size (p=0.0024), and depth of invasion (p=0.0147). While IGF-1R was significantly correlated to tumor size and depth of invasion in univariate analysis, only tumor size (p=0.0658) had a strong association in multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: Expression of IGF-1 and IGF-1R seems to increase with tumor size in colorectal cancer.