Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1999 Sep;81(2):190–193. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6690676

Microsatellite instability in sporadic colorectal cancer is not an independent prognostic factor

S Salahshor 1, U Kressner 2, H Fischer 1, G Lindmark 3, B Glimelius 4, L Påhlman 5, A Lindblom 1
PMCID: PMC2362857  PMID: 10496341

Abstract

Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is linked to an inherited defect in the DNA mismatch repair system. DNA from HNPCC tumours shows microsatellite instability (MSI). It has been reported that HNPCC patients have a better prognosis than patients with sporadic colorectal cancer. We examined whether the presence of MSI in a series of unselected colorectal tumours carries prognostic information. In a series of 181 unselected colorectal tumours, 22 tumours (12%) showed MSI. Survival analysis at 5–10 years follow-up showed no statistically significant difference in prognosis between MSI-positive and -negative tumours. Our results suggest that the MSI phenotype as such is not an independent prognostic factor. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign

Keywords: microsatellite instability (MSI), prognosis, colorectal cancer

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (110.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aaltonen L. A., Peltomäki P., Leach F. S., Sistonen P., Pylkkänen L., Mecklin J. P., Järvinen H., Powell S. M., Jen J., Hamilton S. R. Clues to the pathogenesis of familial colorectal cancer. Science. 1993 May 7;260(5109):812–816. doi: 10.1126/science.8484121. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bocker T., Diermann J., Friedl W., Gebert J., Holinski-Feder E., Karner-Hanusch J., von Knebel-Doeberitz M., Koelble K., Moeslein G., Schackert H. K. Microsatellite instability analysis: a multicenter study for reliability and quality control. Cancer Res. 1997 Nov 1;57(21):4739–4743. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Boland C. R., Thibodeau S. N., Hamilton S. R., Sidransky D., Eshleman J. R., Burt R. W., Meltzer S. J., Rodriguez-Bigas M. A., Fodde R., Ranzani G. N. A National Cancer Institute Workshop on Microsatellite Instability for cancer detection and familial predisposition: development of international criteria for the determination of microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer. Cancer Res. 1998 Nov 15;58(22):5248–5257. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bubb V. J., Curtis L. J., Cunningham C., Dunlop M. G., Carothers A. D., Morris R. G., White S., Bird C. C., Wyllie A. H. Microsatellite instability and the role of hMSH2 in sporadic colorectalcancer. Oncogene. 1996 Jun 20;12(12):2641–2649. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. DUKES C. E., BUSSEY H. J. The spread of rectal cancer and its effect on prognosis. Br J Cancer. 1958 Sep;12(3):309–320. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1958.37. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dietmaier W., Wallinger S., Bocker T., Kullmann F., Fishel R., Rüschoff J. Diagnostic microsatellite instability: definition and correlation with mismatch repair protein expression. Cancer Res. 1997 Nov 1;57(21):4749–4756. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fujita S., Moriya Y., Sugihara K., Akasu T., Ushio K. Prognosis of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) and the role of Japanese criteria for HNPCC. Jpn J Clin Oncol. 1996 Oct;26(5):351–355. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jjco.a023244. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Herman J. G., Umar A., Polyak K., Graff J. R., Ahuja N., Issa J. P., Markowitz S., Willson J. K., Hamilton S. R., Kinzler K. W. Incidence and functional consequences of hMLH1 promoter hypermethylation in colorectal carcinoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Jun 9;95(12):6870–6875. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.12.6870. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hoang J. M., Cottu P. H., Thuille B., Salmon R. J., Thomas G., Hamelin R. BAT-26, an indicator of the replication error phenotype in colorectal cancers and cell lines. Cancer Res. 1997 Jan 15;57(2):300–303. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ionov Y., Peinado M. A., Malkhosyan S., Shibata D., Perucho M. Ubiquitous somatic mutations in simple repeated sequences reveal a new mechanism for colonic carcinogenesis. Nature. 1993 Jun 10;363(6429):558–561. doi: 10.1038/363558a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kane M. F., Loda M., Gaida G. M., Lipman J., Mishra R., Goldman H., Jessup J. M., Kolodner R. Methylation of the hMLH1 promoter correlates with lack of expression of hMLH1 in sporadic colon tumors and mismatch repair-defective human tumor cell lines. Cancer Res. 1997 Mar 1;57(5):808–811. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kinzler K. W., Vogelstein B. Lessons from hereditary colorectal cancer. Cell. 1996 Oct 18;87(2):159–170. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81333-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lengauer C., Kinzler K. W., Vogelstein B. Genetic instability in colorectal cancers. Nature. 1997 Apr 10;386(6625):623–627. doi: 10.1038/386623a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lindblom A., Tannergård P., Werelius B., Nordenskjöld M. Genetic mapping of a second locus predisposing to hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer. Nat Genet. 1993 Nov;5(3):279–282. doi: 10.1038/ng1193-279. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lothe R. A., Peltomäki P., Meling G. I., Aaltonen L. A., Nyström-Lahti M., Pylkkänen L., Heimdal K., Andersen T. I., Møller P., Rognum T. O. Genomic instability in colorectal cancer: relationship to clinicopathological variables and family history. Cancer Res. 1993 Dec 15;53(24):5849–5852. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Myrhøj T., Bisgaard M. L., Bernstein I., Svendsen L. B., Søndergaard J. O., Bülow S. Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer: clinical features and survival. Results from the Danish HNPCC register. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1997 Jun;32(6):572–576. doi: 10.3109/00365529709025102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Percesepe A., Benatti P., Roncucci L., Sassatelli R., Fante R., Ganazzi D., Bellacosa A., Genuardi M., Neri G., Viel A. Survival analysis in families affected by hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer. Int J Cancer. 1997 May 2;71(3):373–376. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19970502)71:3<373::aid-ijc12>3.0.co;2-h. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Perucho M. Correspondence re: C.R. Boland et al., A National Cancer Institute workshop on microsatellite instability for cancer detection and familial predisposition: development of international criteria for the determination of microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer. Cancer Res., 58: 5248-5257, 1998. Cancer Res. 1999 Jan 1;59(1):249–256. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Peto R., Pike M. C., Armitage P., Breslow N. E., Cox D. R., Howard S. V., Mantel N., McPherson K., Peto J., Smith P. G. Design and analysis of randomized clinical trials requiring prolonged observation of each patient. II. analysis and examples. Br J Cancer. 1977 Jan;35(1):1–39. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1977.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sankila R., Aaltonen L. A., Järvinen H. J., Mecklin J. P. Better survival rates in patients with MLH1-associated hereditary colorectal cancer. Gastroenterology. 1996 Mar;110(3):682–687. doi: 10.1053/gast.1996.v110.pm8608876. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Tannergård P., Liu T., Weger A., Nordenskjöld M., Lindblom A. Tumorigenesis in colorectal tumors from patients with hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer. Hum Genet. 1997 Nov;101(1):51–55. doi: 10.1007/s004390050585. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Thibodeau S. N., Bren G., Schaid D. Microsatellite instability in cancer of the proximal colon. Science. 1993 May 7;260(5109):816–819. doi: 10.1126/science.8484122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Thibodeau S. N., French A. J., Roche P. C., Cunningham J. M., Tester D. J., Lindor N. M., Moslein G., Baker S. M., Liskay R. M., Burgart L. J. Altered expression of hMSH2 and hMLH1 in tumors with microsatellite instability and genetic alterations in mismatch repair genes. Cancer Res. 1996 Nov 1;56(21):4836–4840. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Weber J. L., May P. E. Abundant class of human DNA polymorphisms which can be typed using the polymerase chain reaction. Am J Hum Genet. 1989 Mar;44(3):388–396. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Zhou X. P., Hoang J. M., Li Y. J., Seruca R., Carneiro F., Sobrinho-Simoes M., Lothe R. A., Gleeson C. M., Russell S. E., Muzeau F. Determination of the replication error phenotype in human tumors without the requirement for matching normal DNA by analysis of mononucleotide repeat microsatellites. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 1998 Feb;21(2):101–107. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2264(199802)21:2<101::aid-gcc4>3.0.co;2-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES