Investigation of mRNA Expression Levels of TGIFLX and OCT1 Homeobox Genes in Colorectal Cancer

The OCT1 and TGIFLX transcription factors are members of homeodomains whose expressions have been implicated in normal and abnormal development. However, the expression of TGIFLX and OCT1 in colorectal cancer is unknown. This study aimed to detect the expression of OCT1 and TGIFLX in clinical samples of colorectal cancer. Twenty-six pairs of colorectal cancer tissue and adjacent non-tumoral tissue were obtained at the time of surgery from patients with colorectal cancer. The expression of TGIFLX and OCT1 was detected by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). OCT1 was down-regulated in colorectal carcinoma samples in both males (58.33%) and females (57.14%). By contrast, TGIFLX was mainly (41.63%) expressed in colorectal tumors of males samples but not in para-neoplastic normal tissues. OCT1 expression was not significantly associated with the gender and site of primary tumor (P 0.05), but the expression of TGIFLX was associated with male patients (P 0.05). In conclusion, dysregulation of OCT1 and TGIFLX genes might be novel prognostic biomarkers for patients with colorectal cancer.