Research Assessment #11
Date: January 15, 2021
Subject: Blood Serum levels of E-cadherin in patients with colorectal cancer
Lab study Citation: Cepowicz, Dariusz et al. "Blood serum levels of E-cadherin in patients with colorectal cancer." Przeglad gastroenterologiczny vol. 12,3 (2017): 186-191. doi:10.5114/pg.2017.70471
Equation of research Citation: Michor, Franziska et al. "What does physics have to do with cancer?." Nature reviews. Cancer vol. 11,9 657-70. 18 Aug. 2011, doi:10.1038/nrc3092
Assessment:
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancer types in the world. It remains the second most prevalent cancer mortality in men and the third in women. In this assessment, I am looking into a single equation to understand cellular cancer shapes' complexities. As I was researching through the physics behind cancer, I stumbled across an article with this equation and was fascinated but wanted to learn more and understand its complexities. To understand this equation fully, though, I will focus on the part of the equation that has to do with E-Cadherin levels and then build through this in proceeding assessments.
This study focuses on how Blood serum levels of E-Cadherin affect patients with colorectal cancer. Adhesion plays a crucial role in the regulation of growth, differentiation, and migration of cells. There is clear evidence that shows how inappropriate adhesion can result in neoplastic cells; abnormal growth of tissue created by the rapid division of cells that have undergone some form of mutation, to become invasive. Cadherins are a large group of adhesion proteins and take part in cellular relations. These Cadherins create these adherence junctions needed for the proper functioning of a cell to cell adhesion mechanism. E-Cadherin molecules depend on calcium ions. Functional disorders of this molecule lead to neoplastic growth. Strong evidence suggests that the progression of neoplastic diseases of the stomach, pancreas, and large intestine all correlate to E-cadherin disorders' influence.
So for this assessment, I read a study pointing out the correlation between blood serum levels of E-cadherin in patients with Colorectal Cancer. In order to compare these blood levels, the experiment was conducted with forty-eight patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer and a twenty-four control group. They took 3-5ml of blood samples to clot before surgery from the group with colorectal cancer. Clotting time was one hundred and twenty minutes at room temperature. Samples were left in a refrigerator for about 2-4 hours for the clot to fully form. The samples were taken to a laboratory, where centrifugation was performed at 3000 rpm (rounds-per-minute) for 10 min at room temperature.
The study found that there is no statistically significant correlation connecting the levels of E-cadherin in blood serum and the possible diagnosis of the progression of colorectal cancer. Although the means comparing the E-Cadherin levels only differed by .27, the range of Colorectal patients' range highly diffed from the average. Nevertheless, a statistically meaningful relationship between blood serum E-cadherin levels and the levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in patients with colorectal cancer was evident.
To conclude this study, a thesis hypothesizes that the established decrease in E-cadherin expression in the primary tumor connects with its capacity to spread. It can be a prognostic factor for the further course of cancer. Moreover, Some researchers also suggest that the reduction in E-cadherin expression connects with the tumor's low histological differentiation.
The application of this study conducted could be used to detect colorectal cancer and treatment efficiency. Although to do so, more research must be performed. The level of E-Cadherin in the blood serum of patients with colorectal cancer has no diagnostic significance.