Immunogenic hsp-70 is overexpressed in colorectal cancers with high-degree microsatellite instability.

Purpose: Colorectal cancers that display high-degree mi-crosatellite instability are associated with an improved prognosis and evidence of an activated host immune response. Molecular analyses have suggested that heat shock proteins, a family of proteins that have key immunologic functions, are upregulated in these cancers. We aimed to explore the expression of heat shock proteins 70 and 110 and their relationship to microsatellite instability, survival, and other clinicopathologic parameters.

Local expression of insulin-like growth factor-I affects angiogenesis in colorectal cancer.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) has potent mitogenic and anti-apoptotic effects that give it a critical role in the regulation of rapidly renewing epithelial cell populations such as those found in the colon. Recent evidence has implicated circulating IGF-I levels as an important determinant of colorectal cancer risk, but the role, if any, of its autocrine/paracrine expression remains unexplored. Therefore, we investigated the local expression of IGF-I and IGF-I type I receptor (IGF-IR) in 50 paired normal colon and carcinoma samples.