Affiliations: Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery,
Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, Germany | Core Unit Chip Application (CUCA), Institute of Human
Genetics and Anthropology, Theoretikum, Jena, Germany
Note: [] Correspondening author: Prof. Dr. U. Settmacher, Department for
General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery, University Hospital Jena, Erlanger
Allee 101, 07747 Jena, Germany. Tel.: +49 3641 9322601; Fax: +49 3641 9322602;
E-mail: utz.settmacher@med.uni-jena.de
Abstract: Expression of Human Neutrophil Peptides (HNP) 1–3 was recently
found to be associated with development of colorectal cancer. Raised
defensin-expression in tumours is believed to stem from increased infiltration
of neutrophils into tumour environment. To further specify the role of α-defensins
in tumourigenesis and progression, HNP1–3 were analyzed in colorectal adenomas
and carcinomas of 87 patients and quantified in relation to cancer stage and
grading. Using the ProteinChip arrays, HNP1–3 were found upregulated in both
colorectal adenomas and carcinomas. By combining the array with Laser capture
microscopy we were able to confirm that HNP1–3 are expressed by tumour cells
but not by neutrophils or other tumour invading cells. These findings suggest
that α-defensins are more likely to contribute to
tumour growth than they are to mount an effective host anti-tumour response.
However, the amount of HNP-expression was not found to be related to tumour
stage, grading, and serological tumour markers.
