Tumor budding has been reported to be significantly associated with lymph node or distant metastasis in colorectal carcinomas. We attempted to elucidate the contributing factors for the formation of budding tumor cells.
Patients and methods: Fifty T1 colorectal carcinomas were immunostained using several antibodies against adhesion-related molecules, and the associations between tumor budding and clinicopathological factors were examined.
Results: Univariate analysis revealed that predominant histology, lymphatic permeation, depth of invasion, width of invasion, CD44 variant 6 expression, laminin-5 gamma 2 chain expression and stromal MMP-2 expression were associated with tumor budding. Multivariate analysis showed that lymphatic permeation, laminin-5 gamma 2 chain expression and stromal MMP-2 expression were independently and significantly associated with tumor budding. Furthermore, laminin-5 gamma 2 chain and stromal MMP-2 expression patterns were significantly associated with locoregional failure.
Conclusion: These results suggest that laminin-5 gamma 2 chain and MMP-2 may contribute synergistically to the formation of budding tumor cells.