Abstract
BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is known as one of the most leading causes of death from cancer in the world. Wnt signaling pathway is the most important signaling pathway activated in this type of cancer. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein-6 (LRP6) functions as a co-receptor in order to trigger this signaling pathway. OBJECTIVE: The expression of LRP6 was studied in cell lines, tumoral and normal adjacent tissues from patients affected with colorectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of LRP6 was assayed by quantitative Real time PCR. RESULTS: LRP6 is overexpressed at the transcript and protein level in HCT116 and SW480 in comparison to HUVEC as the non-cancerous cell. Furthermore, LRP6 was significantly up-regulated in 61% of human malignant tissues (p-value = 0.0008). In inherited type of disease, this upregulation was lower than other types of colorectal cancer, while in rectal cancer the overexpression was significantly higher (p-value = 0.039). Gene expression was not correlated with the age, gender and the stage of disease. CONCLUSION: Due to the profound overexpression of LRP6 in sporadic and rectal types of cancer compared to normal colonic ones, antagonist related approaches can be promising for targeted therapies of cancer.