Thymidylate synthase and microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer: Implications for disease free survival, treatment response and survival with metastases

Figures & data

Table I.  Characteristics of the patients and their tumours at diagnosis.

Variable	Total Patient Group N (%)
Patients	73 (100)
Female	27 (37)
Male	46 (63)
Age (yrs)
Mean (SD)	57.9 (10.0)
Tumour localisation
Rectum	15 (20.5)
Left Colon	31 (42.5
Right Colon	20 (27.4)
Transverse Colon	7 (9.6)
Primary Tumour Status*
T1	0 (0)
T2	5 (6.8)
T3	46 (63.0)
T4	15 (20.5)
Primary Nodal Status*
N0	20 (27.4)
N1	39 (53.4)
No data	14 (19.2)
Histological Tumour Grade
Grade I	10 (14.3)
Grade II	47 (67.1)
Grade III	13 (18.6)
Stage*
II	12 (17)
III	14 (19)
IV	47 (64)
Localisation of Metastases
Liver	31 (42.5)
Lung	2 (2.7)
Multiple	36 (49.3)
Local	4 (5.5)
Disease-Specific Survival (months)
Mean (SD)	32.6 (24.8)
Disease-Specific Outcome
Alive	11 (15.1)
Died of Disease	62 (84.9)

*TNM classification [31].

Figure 1.  Examples of high (a), low (b) expression of hMLH1, and high (c), low (d) expression of hMSH2 (c, d). High /Low staining and TS staining (e, f) High/ Low (X20).

Table II.  TS-MMR expression* and response to treatment in the whole series and in patients treated with combined (5-FU) plus Irinotecan.

All Patients:		Response
TS/MMR Index	No. Patients	N (%)
Both Low	27	14 (52)
High/ Low or Low/ High	28	14 (50)
Both High	18	3 (17)
Total	73	31 (42)
		Chi-square test, p = 0.029
Patients on Combined 5-FU plus Irinotecan:		Response
TS/MMR Index	No. Patients	N (%)
Both Low	22	14 (63)
High/ Low or Low/ High	22	14 (50)
Both High	11	1 (9)
Total	55	29 (53)
		Fisher's Exact test, p = 0.004

*the 3-class TS- MMR index with median TS cut-off values.

Figure 2.  TS-MMR expression and disease free survival (DFS) in univariate (Kaplan-Meier) analysis.

Figure 3.  TS-MMR expression and survival with metastases (WMS) in univariate (Kaplan-Meier) analysis.

Sobin LH, Greene FL. TNM classification: clarification of number of regional lymph nodes for pNo. Cancer 2001; 92: 452

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