Association of clinicopathological features with UbcH10 expression in colorectal cancer.

Purpose: UbcH10 is the cancer-related E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, and its overexpression has been demonstrated in a variety of malignancies. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of UbcH10 gene expression with the carcinogenesis and tumor progression of colorectal cancer.
Methods: The expression levels of UbcH10 in human malignant colorectal carcinoma tissues and their adjacent normal tissues were examined using real-time quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemical analysis. The correlations of UbcH10 expression to the clinicalpathologic characteristics of the colorectal cancer were analyzed. Cell proliferation and Matrigel invasion assays were performed in HT-29 cells transfected with UbcH10 expression plasmid pcDNA3.1-UbcH10, UbcH10 RNA interference vector pUbcH10-RNAi as well as their control vectors.
Results: Our study demonstrated that the expression of UbcH10 in colorectal carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than that in non-cancerous tissues (P < 0.01), and the UbcH10 overexpression was related to the degree of tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis of colorectal cancer patients (P < 0.05). In vitro, the overexpression of UbcH10 promoted cell proliferation and tumor invasiveness, but the downregulation of UbcH10 expression significantly reduced the growth rate and the invasiveness activity of tumor cell line.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that the overexpression of UbcH10 gene plays a critical role in the carcinogenesis and tumor progression of colorectal cancer. It may be a new marker in diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer, and the inhibition of UbcH10 may be a therapeutic potential for the treatment of colorectal cancer.