Dr. Eman Adel Saad :: Publications:

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered as the third most prevalent malignancy globally. One of the primary reasons for recurrence of tumor is believed to be the existence of chemotherapy-resistant cancer stem cells. Objective: This study aimed to study LGR5’s roles in colorectal carcinogenesis and its association with DDR1, which could potentially lead to the development of novel integrated modalities in CRC treatments. Material and methods: This retrospective study was performed on 60 cases: 6 were normal colon, 12 were colorectal adenoma and 42 were CRC. All slides were subjected to staining with LGR5 and DDR1 antibodies utilizing the avidin-biotin complex method. Results: There was a significant positive statistical association among LGR5, DDR1 expression and grading, staging, distant metastasis, lympho-vascular invasion, perineural invasion and tumor budding (p >0.001). There was a significant association among LGR5 and DDR1 expression among colorectal carcinoma cases (p=0.001). There was a positive significant correlation among LGR5 & DDR1 and the studied groups (p>0.001) and (p=0.008) respectively. Using Kaplan-Meier: High LGR5 and DDR1 expression was linked to the lower OS and the lower DFS. ROC curve analysis showed that both markers had high sensitivity in diagnosis of CRC cases. Conclusion: The overexpression of LGR5 and DDR1 in patients with CRC varies from that in adjacent non-cancerous tissue and adenoma cases, indicating their potential involvement in CRC carcinogenesis. Furthermore, they may be significant in the progression and development of CRC, as well as in adverse prognostic outcomes. Therefore, inhibiting these proteins could serve as an effective multitarget therapeutic approach for CRC cases