Abnormal expression of calcyphosine is associated with poor prognosis and cell biology function in colorectal cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate the calcyphosine (CAPS) expression in human colorectal cancer (CRC) and to explore its clinical and prognostic significances. CAPS expression was measured by Western blot, real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis, and immunohistochemistry. The relationships between the CAPS expression levels and the clinicopathological factors were investigated. The Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test were used to investigate the overall survival of the patients. Moreover, the effects of CAPS on biological roles of CRC cells were also evaluated by MTT assay, colony formation assay, and transwell assay. CAPS was significantly overexpressed in cancerous tissue and CRC cell lines compared with adjacent nontumor tissue and a normal human intestinal epithelial cell line. Overexpression of CAPS was significantly associated with histological grade (P=0.004), invasive depth (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P=0.003), tumor node metastasis stage (P=0.017), and distant metastasis (P=0.042). Furthermore, silencing of CAPS expression in CRC cells inhibited their proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that high CAPS expression might demonstrate poor prognosis in CRC patients. Cox regression analysis revealed that CAPS expression was an independent prognostic factor of CRC. Our data suggested that the upregulation of CAPS might play a role in the carcinogenesis and progression of CRC. CAPS could be used as a potential diagnostic factor and be an independent good prognostic indicator for CRC patients.