SOX9 immunosuppression in primary colorectal cancer tumors with lymph node metastasis

Introduction and aims

Colorectal cancer is the most frequent malignant tumor of the digestive system. Its pathogeny is complex and involves the APC/β-catenin sequence. Lymph node metastases are a significant indicator for determining treatment and are a prognostic factor. SOX9 overexpression is related to oncogenic qualities and the capacity for metastasis. Our aim was to analyze SOX9 immunoexpression in primary colorectal cancer and lymph node metastasis status.

Material and methods

Seventy-nine available cases were divided into the group with lymph node metastasis (n = 38) and the group without lymph node metastasis (n = 41), evaluating their SOX9 expression. The IBM SPSS version 27 program in Spanish was utilized to carry out the statistical analysis, obtaining measures of central tendency, the kappa index, standard deviation, Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney nonparametric measurements, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and chi-square test and Student’s t test values. SOX9 immunoexpression was evaluated through the mean-based H-score, with high immunoexpression as a score ≥145 and low immunoexpression as a score ≤144.

Results

A p = 0.73 was obtained that was not statistically significant, regarding the relation of SOX9 expression in primary colorectal cancer to lymph node metastasis.

Conclusions

The absence or presence of lymph node metastasis was independent from SOX9 immunoexpression in primary colorectal cancer. However, due to the limited size of the population analyzed, further research is needed.