In silico and Ex vivo approaches identify a role for toll-like receptor 4 in colorectal cancer

Table 1 TLR4 expression and tumor stage

Rectal cancer - GSE12225
Experimental group	Control	Coef	p-value
Adenocarcinoma	Adenoma
AC + CA + CC + CC(N)	AA	−0.4333	0.0208*
T2 stage with nodal metastases	No nodal Metastases
T2N1 + T2N2 + T2N3	T0N0 + T1N0 + T2N0 + T3N0 + TisN0	−0.442	0.0787*
T2 stage with nodes and T3 stage without nodes	Lower stage without nodes
T2N1 + T2N2 + T2N3 + T3N0	TisN0 + T0N0 + T1N0 + T2N0	−0.529	0.0289*
Stage III relative to stage II - GSE31595
Probe	Coef	p-value
Short probe	0.105	0.466
Medium probe	0.43	0.061*
Long probe 1	0.744	0.117
Long probe 2	0.695	0.092*

Notes:
[1] Coef = regression coefficient, AA = Adenoma, AC = Adenoma fraction from cases with a carcinoma focus, CA, tumor fractions consisting of a mixture of adenoma and carcinoma tissue, CC = carcinomas without lymph node metastasis, CC (N) = carcinomas with lymph node metastasis, TxNx = tumor size/extension and nodal status as part of the TNM staging system, * = statistically significant.
TLR4 expression is significantly lower in later stage than earlier stage rectal cancer (coef < 0 signifies a negative relationship of the experimental compared to control group, while coef > 0 signifies a positive relationship of the experimental compared to control group). Subjects having nodal metastases express lower TLR4 than those without (GSE12225). In a separate series of patients with stage II and III colon cancer, TLR4 expression was higher in stage III tumors than stage II for two of the four TLR4 probes (Medium Probe and Long Probe 2) (GSE31595).

ISSN: 1756-9966