PURPOSE: Recently, it is suggested that the inhibitian of apoptosis is associated with tumorigenesis of colon. Bcl-2 gene is an important inhibitory regulator of apoptosis, and bcl-2 acts antagonistly with the wild type p53 gene, one of the tumor suppressor genes, in apoptosis. To detnmine the role of bcl-2 and p53 gene in colonic tumorigenesis, we performed the study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We tested the tissue obtained by polypectomy and surgical resection by immunohistochemical staining for Bcl-2 and p53. RESULTS: We found that in normal colonic tissue, the Bcl-2 was sparcely expressed, and the p53 was expressed sporadically. The rate of positivity of staining was below 5%. However, in colonic adenoma and colon cancer tissue, Bcl-2 and p53 were expressed more than in nonnal colonic tissue(p<0.05). (Scoring in Colonic adenoma: Bcl-2 6.2+/-1.1, p53 5.7+/-1.0; Scoring in Colonic carcinoma: Bcl-2 4.7+/-1.0, p53 8.3+/-0.9) CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that the bcl-2 and p53 play an important role in colonic tumorigenesis.
Adenoma* ; Apoptosis ; Carcinogenesis ; Colon* ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Genes, bcl-2 ; Genes, p53* ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor