Somatic deletion of gene is associated to advanced colorectal cancer stages.

Aims: KDM1A/LSD1 and ZNF217 are involved in a protein complex that participates in transcriptional regulation. has been analysed in numerous cancers and its amplification has been associated with advanced stages of disease; however, a similar role for has not been uncovered. In this study, we estimated the number of and gene copies in tissue samples from patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as its association with clinicopathological features in patients with CRC.

Methods: Paraffin-embedded tumour samples from 50 patients with CRC with a histopathological diagnosis of CRC were included. The number of copies of and genes was determined by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). We also analysed the association between copy numbers of selected genes and clinicopathological data based on multivariate analysis.

Results: Deletion of the gene occurred in 19 samples (38%), whereas gene amplification was identified in 11 samples (22%). We found a significant association between lymph node metastasis or advanced tumour stage and gene deletion (p value=0.0003 and p value=0.011, respectively).

Conclusions: gene deletion could be considered a novel prognostic biomarker of late-stage CRC.