Abstract
Claudins are members of a large family of transmembrane proteins, which are essential for the formation of tight junctions and have a significant effect on the biological behavior of tumor progression. Previous studies have demonstrated that several claudins show aberrant expression patterns in numerous types of cancer. The present study investigated the expression and localization of claudin-3 and claudin-7 in human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines and tissues. The protein expression levels of claudin-3 and claudin-7 were determined using immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical staining. Claudin-3, but not claudin-7, exhibited nuclear localization in the human colorectal adenocarcinoma Caco-2 and SW620 cell lines. Surgically resected colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue specimens were obtained, and the associations between the expression of claudin-3 or claudin-7 and various clinicopathological parameters were analyzed. The membranous expression rates of claudin-3 and claudin-7 were 58.0 and 50.0%, while their nuclear expression rates were 22.0 and 2.0%, respectively. The membranous expression of claudin-3 and claudin-7 was not associated with any clinicopathological factors, whereas the nuclear expression of claudin-3 was associated with histological type and was significantly increased in colorectal mucinous adenocarcinomas compared with that in well- to moderately-differentiated colorectal adenocarcinomas (P<0.01). However, no associations were observed between the nuclear expression of claudin-7 and any clinicopathological parameter. In conclusion, the nuclear expression of claudin-3 in colorectal mucinous adenocarcinoma may be involved in the biological transformation of tumors. The results from the present study indicated that claudin-3 is an important protein associated with histological type and has potential as a prognostic marker. Although the mechanisms underlying the nuclear localization of claudin-3 in tumorigenesis have not yet been elucidated in detail, the present results indicated the potential of claudin-3 as a histopathological biomarker for colorectal adenocarcinomas.