OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif(TAZ) in colon cancer tissues and its association with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of patients.

METHODSThe expression of TAZ protein was detected in 56 resected colon cancer tissues and matched tumor-adjacent tissues using immunohistochemistry. The positive expression rate of TAZ was compared between patients with different clinicopathological features. The association between TAZ expression and prognosis was analyzed.

RESULTSExpression of TAZ protein located in the nucleolus. The positive expression rate of TAZ in colon cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in matched tumor-adjacent tissues(73.2% vs. 12.5%, P=0.000). Clinicopathological evaluation suggested that the expression of TAZ protein was associated with tumor size(P=0.009), depth of infiltration(P=0.026), lymph node metastasis (P=0.007) and TNM staging(P=0.004). Colon cancer patients with negative expression of TAZ showed a better 5-year survival as compared with those with positive expression of TAZ (66.7% vs. 22.9%, P=0.0017). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that positive TAZ expression was an independent factor for predicting poor prognosis in colon cancer (HR:3.532, 95% CI: 1.3-9.9, P=0.016).

CONCLUSIONThe expression of TAZ protein is up-regulated in colon cancer tissues and its high expression is associated with poor prognosis of colon cancer patients.