Lymph node metastases were characterized by fewer alterations compared with primary tumors and liver metastases, especially KRAS (P = .03) and p16INK4a (P = .05).
The difference of CDKN2A-methylation and p16 protein expression between HCCs and liver metastases was statistically significant (p < 0.01, respectively).
The results suggest that disruption of the p53/MDM2/p14ARF pathway may frequently participate in colonic carcinogenesis and that MDM2 expression status may be a factor in the prediction of potential invasion and liver metastasis of colorectal carcinomas.
RASSF1A methylation was associated with histopathologic type of tumors (P = 0.03) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.004), and p16 methylation with older patient age (P = 0.002) and liver metastasis (P = 0.04).
There is a correlation between telomerase activity and homozygous deletions of the p16 gene in liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma, suggesting its crucial role in liver metastases.