We assessed the distribution of the PrP<sup>C</sup>-encoding PRNP mRNA in two large CRC cohorts according to molecular classification and its association with patient survival.
A wealth of evidence suggests that proteins from prion protein (PrP) family contribute to tumorigenesis in many types of cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), breast cancer, glioblastoma, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, melanoma, etc.
With respect to cancer development and progression, elevations and mutations of PrP(c) expression have been shown to increase the risk for malignancy and metastasis in breast and colorectal cancer.
Together, these data indicate that the disruption of the PrP(C)-HOP complex could be a potential therapeutic target for modulating the migratory and invasive cellular properties that lead to metastatic CRC.
Here, we show that the expression of cellular prion protein (PrPc, PRNP) is positively correlated with an increased risk of metastasis in colorectal cancer.
In this study, we demonstrated that the expression of PrPc correlates with a more aggressive and histologically unfavorable disease in colorectal carcinomas.
POLR2F and PRNP exhibited elevated levels in carcinomas compared to normal tissue samples suggesting a possible role for these molecules in colorectal cancer.