Table 2. Correlation of COL3A1 protein expression in cancer epithelial cells with clinicopathological variables in CRC patients revealed by TMA-IHC analysis.
| Clinicopathological factor | Total cases | COL3A1 proteina | χ2 | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L | H | ||||
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 43 | 25 | 18 | 3.06 | 0.08 |
| Female | 41 | 16 | 25 | ||
| Age | |||||
| < 65 years | 30 | 16 | 14 | 0.392 | 0.531 |
| ≥ 65 years | 52 | 24 | 28 | ||
| Grade | |||||
| I | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6.731 | 0.029 |
| I-II, II | 45 | 18 | 27 | ||
| I-III, II-III, III | 34 | 18 | 16 | ||
| Vascular Invasion Present | |||||
| Positive | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0.307 | 1 |
| Negative | 34 | 17 | 17 | ||
| Number of Positive Lymph Nodes | |||||
| < 1 | 46 | 25 | 21 | 1.141 | 0.285 |
| ≥ 1 | 31 | 13 | 18 | ||
| T stage | |||||
| T1-T2 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 6.923 | 0.012 |
| T3-T4 | 73 | 31 | 42 | ||
| N stage | |||||
| N0 | 52 | 28 | 24 | 1.386 | 0.239 |
| N1-N2 | 32 | 13 | 19 | ||
| M stage | |||||
| M0 | 81 | 39 | 42 | 0.003 | 1 |
| M1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Stage | |||||
| 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 8.438 | 0.004 |
| 2-4 | 75 | 32 | 43 | ||
| Metastasis | |||||
| No | 82 | 40 | 42 | 0.001 | 1 |
| Yes | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Tumor volume (cm3) | |||||
| < 70 | 55 | 25 | 30 | 0.49 | 0.484 |
| ≥ 70 | 28 | 15 | 13 | ||
a
The epithelial cell-specific expression of COL3A1 was dichotomized into low (L) or high (H) groups based on the positivity values calculated by the positive pixel count algorithm (v9.1) provided by the Aperio ImageScope v12.1.