Preliminary investigation of the association between desmoglein-2 expression and patient prognosis following radical surgery for colon cancer.

[BACKGROUND] Desmoglein-2 (DSG2), a calcium-dependent transmembrane glycoprotein, serves as a critical mediator of intercellular adhesion by functioning as an integral component of desmosomal junctions. Aberrant expression of DSG2 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a diverse array of malignancies. However, the expression patterns and functional significance of DSG2 in the context of colon cancer (CC) remain inadequately characterized. Consequently, this study was designed to comprehensively elucidate DSG2 expression and evaluate its potential prognostic utility in CC.

[METHODS] Tumor specimens from 104 CC patients and 77 samples of adjacent paraneoplastic tissue were procured, accompanied by the corresponding clinicopathological data from the contributing patients. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed on all samples using tissue microarrays. Variations in DSG2 expression between CC tissues and adjacent paraneoplastic tissues, along with the association between DSG2 expression and clinicopathological parameters of CC, were evaluated using the χ2 test. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was utilized for both univariate and multivariate analyses, while survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method. All statistical computations and graph plotting were executed using R software (version 4.2.0).

[RESULTS] DSG2 expression was significantly lower in CC tissues compared to peri-cancerous tissues (P < 0.05). DSG2 expression exhibited significant correlations with tumor differentiation (P = 0.041) and distant metastasis (P < 0.05). Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that overall survival (OS) in CC patients was significantly associated with tumor size (HR = 1.649, 95% CI: 1.007-2.700, P = 0.047), lymph node metastasis (HR = 2.102, 95% CI: 1.284-3.440, P = 0.003), distant metastasis (HR = 2.459, 95% CI: 1.502-4.026, P < 0.001), and DSG2 expression (HR = 0.399, 95% CI: 0.237-0.672, P = 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that lymph node metastasis (HR = 1.872, 95% CI: 1.136-3.085, P = 0.014), distant metastasis (HR = 1.756, 95% CI: 1.024-3.011, P = 0.041), and low DSG2 expression (HR = 0.529, 95% CI: 0.305-0.916, P = 0.023) are independent prognostic factors for overall survival (OS).

[CONCLUSION] Diminished DSG2 expression is correlated with reduced survival rates in CC patients, suggesting that DSG2 could serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for CC.