Background and purpose:The expression of dickkopf homolog 3 gene(DKK3)is always reduced or absent in tumors,instead part of the tumor vascular endothelial expressed DKK3.vWF is a macromolecular glycoprote synthesized and released by vascular endothelial cells and megakaryocytes.However,vWF was also expressed by tumor.The relationship between these 2 factors and the occurrence of cancer is still unclear.The purpose of this study was to observe the expression of DKK3 and vWF proteins in colorectal carcinoma and determine their clinical significance through finding their association with MVD and correlation with each other.Methods:Immunohistochemistry staining was used to detect the expression of DKK3,vWF proteins and MVD in the colorectal carcinoma tissue microarrays that contained 94 colorectal carcinoma specimens.Results:The expression of DKK3 in colorectal carcinoma was lower than or nonexistent compared to that in normal tissues(P＜0.05).The expression of vWF in colorectal carcinoma was higher than that in normal tissues(P＜0.05).Expression of DKK3 and vWF in colorectal carcinoma were not correlated to the age or gender of the patients,invasive depth,or tumor locus of the colorectal carcinoma (P＞0.05).Correlations with the expression of DKK3 and vWF in colorectal carcinoma were only found with differentiation and iynphnode metastasis (P＜0.05).However,the expression of DKK3 and vWF in colorectal carcinoma was not correlated to MVD(P＞0.05).The expression of DKK3 was not correlated to the expression of vWF in coiorectal carcinoma(r=0.1310,P=0.2090).Conclusion:A lowered expression of DKK3 and higher expression of vWF may be associated with the carcinogenesis,various biological behaviors and metastasis of colorecml carcinoma.These 2 factors can be used as important biological markers for colorectal cancer.