Expression Levels of the YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 Hippo Pathway Genes in Colorectal Villous Adenoma Polyps

Background: Villous adenoma polyps are associated with a high risk of developing Colorectal Cancer (CRC). The Hippo signaling pathway is related to CRC as it regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis; however, the role of this pathway in different adenoma polyps and its relationship to CRC development is not yet fully discovered. Methods: Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to examine the mRNA expression levels of YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 in 30 pairs of villous adenomas polyps’ tissues and adjacent normal tissues. In addition, the correlation between clinicopathologic features and the YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 expression in villous adenoma polyps patients and the related Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were evaluated. Results: The mRNA expression levels of YAP (P 0.01), TAZ (P 0.0001), and TEAD1 (P 0.0001) were higher in villous adenoma polyps’ tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Statistical analysis showed that the expression levels of YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 were associated with lymph node metastasis, while only TAZ was associated with the TNM stage (I-II). Moreover, YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 may have the potential to distinguish villous adenoma polyps from the adjacent normal tissues, given the large area under the ROC curve values (0.74, 0.70, and 0.68, respectively). Conclusion: Our study highlights that the upregulation of YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 genes in the Hippo pathway can affect the progression of villous adenoma polyps to CRC and can be a potential target for further investigation, representing a novel biomarker for patients with villous adenoma polyps.