Investigating the CTGF mRNA Expression Level in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

The Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF) gene encoding an extracellular matrix (ECM)-associated protein and as a member of the CCN family of proteins plays a major role in fibrosis, inflammation and connective tissue remodeling in a variety of diseases including cancer. The CCN proteins are multifunctional and are involved in cell proliferation, adhesion and cell development during pathogenesis. The purpose of our study was to determine the expression level of CTGF mRNA in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

paraffin embedded tissues from 122 patients with colorectal cancer and their matched normal colon tissues and 20 paraffin embedded  normal tissues blocks from normal individual were collected from Taleghani and Shohada hospital in Tehran. The fold change of CTGF expression was analyzed by quantitative real time PCR method, using REST and Prism softwares. Also, LinReg PCR software was also used for the efficiency of primers.

We found that expression of CTGF gene in tumor tissue was significantly higher than in adjacent normal tissue (P<0.0001, RQ>2). A Significant increase was also observed in the expression of this gene in right-sided colon cancer than left side.

The findings indicated that the expression pattern of CTGF gene is significantly altered in   the development of cancer from normal tissue. Thus, according to major role of CTGF gene in fibrosis, inflammation and connective tissue remodeling, it may be effective in various diseases process including cancer.