Molecular profiling of risk factors for relapse in Japanese patients with stage II colorectal cancer: a retrospective cohort study

Background

The association between the molecular profiles and prognosis of Stage II colorectal cancer remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the risk factors for relapse of Stage II colorectal cancer using molecular profiling.

Methods

We retrospectively enrolled patients with pStage II colorectal cancer who did not receive perioperative adjuvant therapy and whose surgically resected specimens were evaluated using gene expression and whole-exome analyses between January 2014 and December 2018. We evaluated the long-term outcomes and examined the risk factors for relapse-free survival.

Results

We evaluated 322 patients with pStage II colorectal cancer, including 126 (39.1%) with right colon cancer. Eighty-seven patients (27.0%) had pT4 tumor, 175 (54.3%) had positive venous invasion, 120 (37.3%) had positive lymphatic invasion, and 68 (21.1%) had perineural invasion. The presence of mutations in key genes for colorectal cancer development based on whole-exome analyses was as follows: APC, 245 (76.1%); TP53, 208 (64.6%); and KRAS, 134 (41.6%). According to the consensus molecular subtype classification based on gene expression, 76 patients (23.6%) had consensus molecular subtype 4 and a significantly lower relapse-free survival than the other patients (5-year relapse-free survival: 83.8% vs. 92.9%, p = 0.017). Perineural invasion (hazard ratio: 5.316, p < 0.001) and consensus molecular subtype 4 (hazard ratio: 2.399, p = 0.020) were identified as independent risk factors for relapse-free survival.

Conclusions

Molecular profiling of Stage II colorectal cancer to assess the risk factors for relapse may contribute to the indication and drug selection for adjuvant chemotherapy.