Table 1.
Clinicopathological variables and association with crypt-like type A morphology in colorectal cancer.
Figure 1.
Colorectal cancers phenocopy normal colonic crypt architecture.
Triple immune staining for β-Catenin (βCat), KI67 and CK20. (A) Colonic crypts show nuclear β-Catenin expression at their base, KI67 extending to the mid crypt, and CK20 at the apex. Visualization of nuclear β-Catenin required counterstaining with DAPI and high magnification (left panel inset). Red and blue bars delineate crypt parts with and without nuclear β-Catenin, respectively. (B) Colorectal cancers display a similar organization with nuclear β-Catenin at the tumor edge (arrowheads), CK20 expression in the tumor center (arrows), and KI67 in between. Scale bars, 100 µm.
Figure 2.
Impact of different culture conditions on colon cancer architecture.
Triple immune staining reveals lack of full structural organization in adherent tissue cultures of (A) low density and (B) confluent SW1222, and (C) low density and (D) confluent Caco2 colon cancer cells, as well as in spheroid cultures of (E) SW1222, (F) Caco2, and (G) primary colon cancer cells. On the contrary, subcutaneous xenografts of (H) SW1222, (I) Caco2, and (J) primary colon cancer cells form glands with organized expression of nuclear β-Catenin at the tumor edge (arrowheads) and CK20 expression in the tumor center (arrows). Scale bars, 100 µm.
Figure 3.
Types of colorectal cancer as defined by nuclear β-Catenin and CK20 expression.
Double immune staining for β-Catenin (brown) and CK20 (red). (Type A) Full structural organization with nuclear β-Catenin at the tumor edge (arrowhead) and CK20 within the tumor center (arrow). (Type B) Absence of nuclear β-Catenin. (Type C) Absence of central CK20. (Type D) Absence of decreased nuclear β-Catenin in the tumor center. (Type E) Absence of both nuclear β-Catenin and CK20. Frequencies of these types are given in the table.
Figure 4.
Type A colorectal cancers are associated with better survival.
(A) Kaplan-Meier plot for the different types of colorectal cancers, as indicated by letters on curves. (B) Type A colorectal cancer patients (upper curve) show significantly (log-rank test) better survival when compared to other types (lower curve). Ratios on curves indicate the number of events over the number of patients per group.
Table 2.
Multivariate analysis of cancer specific survival.