PKM2 Expression as Biomarker for Resistance to Oxaliplatin-Based Chemotherapy in Colorectal Cancer.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the prognostic significance of M2 isoform of pyruvate kinase (PKM2) expression loss in patients with operable colon cancer (CC). Two hundred sixty-two specimens from patients with stage-III or high-risk stage-II CC (group-A) treated with adjuvant fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin chemotherapy (FOLFOX), 118 specimens from metastatic CC patients (group-B) treated with FOLFOX, and 104 metastatic CC patients (group-C) treated with irinotecan-based chemotherapy were analyzed for , and mRNA expression, as well as exon2 and mutations. High mRNA expression was correlated with left-sided located primaries ( = 0.001, group-A; = 0.003, group-B; = 0.001, group-C), high-grade tumors ( = 0.001, group-A; = 0.017, group-B; = 0.021, group-C), microsatellite-stable tumors ( < 0.001, group-A), pericolic lymph nodes involvement ( = 0.018, group-A), and mRNA expression ( = 0.002, group-A; = 0.008, group-B; = 0.006, group-C). High mRNA expression was correlated with significantly lower disease free survival (DFS) ( = 0.002) and overall survival (OS) ( = 0.001) in the group-A. Similarly, mRNA expression was associated with significantly decreased progression free survival (PFS) ( = 0.001) and OS ( = 0.001) in group-B. On the contrary, no significant association for the mRNA expression has been observed with either PFS ( = 0.612) or OS ( = 0.517) in group-C. To conclude, the current study provides evidence for the prediction of mRNA expression oxaliplatin-based treatment resistance.