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Adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) increases the survival rates significantly, but it also increases morbidity. Molecular markers may help on prognosis evaluation and treatment choice. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the imunoexpression of p53 and Ki-67 in rectal cancer tissue after CRT treatment. Stage II or III rectal cancer patients were evaluated and treated with RT and 5-FU preoperatively (neoadjuvant treatment, NG) or after surgical resection of the cancer (adjuvant treatment, AG). Thirty-one patients were enrolled in the NG and 30 in the AG; 63.95% were between 50 and 70 years, 50.8% were male, and 53% were in stage III. Of the tumors, 64.5% of the NG and 63.34% of the AG had not overexpressed p53 (p = 0.865) and 9.67% of NG and 33.33% of the AG tumors had a high proliferative index (HPI) of Ki67, p = 0.052. We have not found any difference among metastasis development in the groups (p = 0.708). After 5 years, patients with low proliferative index (LPI) of Ki67 tumors had the best survival rate (p = 0.041). Patients with positive or negative p53 tumors had similar survival (p = 0.35). Patients with HPI of Ki67 had an increased marginal risk for death (p = 0.069). The rate of tumors that overexpressed p53 was similar in both groups. Patients with p53 positive tumors survived as long as those with p53 negative. Patients treated with chemoradiotherapy before surgical resection, expressed Ki67 in a small percentage. Rectal cancer patients with LPI of Ki67 had the best prognosis.

Cancer has been seen negatively by the people that disclose fear and anxiety face to the disease closely associated with distress, aggressive treatments, and death. Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent cancer and few assays were developed studying depression and anxiety in patients after surgical resection of tumor and before adjuvant therapy.This research aims to study the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with colorectal cancer before and after adjuvant chemotherapy.After surgical resection of colorectal cancer, 37 patients were included according to the kind of treatment: chemotherapy group (CHG) and the other one without indication of chemotherapy, the control group (CG). Questionnaires of Depression and Anxiety were done at the beginning and at the end of the treatment in the CHG (n = 19) and at the first and after 6 months of follow-up (n = 18) in the CG.No difference on gender, age, or site was observed among the groups. Stage III tumor was more frequent in the CHG group. Mild or moderate depression was diagnosed in 31.6% of the CHG patients in the first evaluation and in 38.6% at the second one. In the CG no depression was observed in both evaluations. About the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the results were similar before and after chemotherapy treatment. There was a higher number of patients with moderate state or trait anxiety in the CHG when compared to the CG in both evaluations. No correlation was found about the inventories of anxiety and depression and site of tumor or stage.After surgical treatment of colorectal cancer, depression and indexes of anxiety were higher in the group of patients treated with chemotherapy when compared to the control group.

Cyclin D1 (CCND1) is a regulatory protein involved in the cell cycle. A common G to A polymorphism in the CCND1 gene is implicated on the splicing of the CCND1 transcript, and this protein may be associated to a deregulated cell proliferation. Correlate the polymorphism A870G of CCND1 to the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), to environmental risk factors and clinical aspects in Brazilian patients. One hundred twenty-three Brazilian patients with colorectal cancer were matched by age and sex to 120 healthy individuals. PCR-RFLP was performed to investigate the A870G CCND1 genotype. Between the cases 70 were men, the mean age was 62.6 years, 74.78% were stage II or III, and 91% were well or moderately differentiated. The patients were followed for a mean time of 37.22 months. The frequency of ethanol and fat intake was similar among the groups. Patients with a family history of CRC had a higher frequency of CRC compared with the controls (OR 4.16, CI 1.89–9.16). There was no difference in the frequency of the alleles A (43.8% versus 43.9%) and G (56.3% versus 56.1%) in the groups. In analysis of both control and cancer group, the influence of sex, smoking, alcohol, fiber, or meat intake did not differ significantly according to CCND1 genotype. The genotype AA or AG was associated with an increased risk of CRC (OR 3.63 CI 1.25–10.5) in patients with a family history of cancer. We did not find any association among the genotypes and localization of the tumor or prognosis. Although a difference on age onset of the tumor and genotype was not observed, patients with GG genotype had a mean 8 years lower than the others. This genotype was also associated to an increase risk of metastatic disease (OR 3.47, CI 1.38–8.68, p = 0.024). We did not find a correlation among the polymorphism of CCND1 A870G and colorectal cancer risk or between this polymorphism and lifestyle habits, diet, or follow-up. GG genotype patients had an increased risk of advanced disease and between the young patients, this genotype was associated to a lower mean age. On the other hand, the genotype AA or AG had been involved to a higher risk of CRC in patients with family history of CRC.

Galectin-3 is an endogenous galactose-binding protein that is expressed in a wide range of normal and neoplasic tissues and is thought to be involved in cellular adhesion, growth regulation, and apoptosis. Galectin-3 seems to have an important role in colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunoexpression of galectin-3 in patients with colorectal cancer under surgery and chemotherapy treatment and the relationship of galectin-3 expression and clinical aspects or tumor evolution. Galectin-3 expression was examined immunohistochemically in 75 samples of colorectal tissues. A scoring system was used to evaluate the cytoplasmic cells color. Among the patients, 40 were female; the average age was 61.98 years old. According to the site, 42.6% was of the rectum, 33.4% right colon, and 24% left colon. Thirty-three tumors were stage II, 32 stage III, and ten stage IV. Galectin-3 immunoexpression was classified as 1 in 57.33% of tumors. The highest percentage of staining cells appeared in the most advanced cancer (p = 0.4899). Patients with recurrence had a great number of tumors with high score (p = 0.0465). In addition, high or moderate galectin-3 immunoexpression had been associated with an increased marginal risk for death (p = 0.0795). The immunoexpression of galectin-3 was strong or moderate in 42% of the colorectal tumors. Patients with strong or moderate immunoexpression of galectin-3 died or had recurrence more frequently. The risk of death was marginally reduced in patients with negative or low-grade galectin-3. Galectin-3 cytoplasmatic immunoexpression seems to be a prognostic factor in colorectal cancer because a higher risk of recurrence had been observed in tumors with a high score of galectin-3. However, a higher risk of death was not found on this group.

Polymorphism in codon 72, exon 4 of p53 may alter apoptosis and cancer progression.P53 Arg72Pro genotype was assessed by PCR from 84 gastric cancer patients and 185 controls. The control group was comparable in sex, race, age, smoking, and alcohol intake to the cancer group.There was no difference among the frequency of the alleles or genotypes between the groups. P53 Pro/Pro was associated to a lower risk of metastatic disease (p = 0.02) but not to lymph nodes metastasis or worst prognosis. Arg/Arg or Arg/Pro genotype may be associated to metastatic disease.