Expression and significance of DOK2 in colorectal cancer

A reduction in the levels of docking protein 2 (DOK2) expression has previously been reported in lung adenocarcinoma and gastric cancer, indicating that this protein acts as a tumor suppressor in solid tumors. The aim of the current study was to determine the significance of DOK2 in colorectal cancer. The study consisted of 102 patients who underwent curative surgery for colorectal cancer. Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of DOK2 protein expression levels was performed in issue samples, and univariate and multivariate analyses were used to investigate the correlation between prognosis and the clinicopathological parameters. DOK2 expression was confirmed in the normal colorectal mucosa tissues, which is consistent with the literature, whereas 34 out of 102 (33.3%) tumor specimens were negative. The results revealed that recurrence was more likely to develop in DOK2(−) patients compared with DOK2(+) patients. The DOK2(−) patients also exhibited a poorer five-year overall survival rate (59.1%) compared with the DOK2(+) group (76.4%; P=0.0328). These results indicate that DOK2 may potentially be used as a marker of poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer following curative resection.