The results of univariate and multivariate analysis suggested that high expression of DCLK1 in clinical colon cancer samples was tied to poor prognosis, cancer invasion depth, and lymph node metastasis.
In rectal cancer patients treated with preoperative CRT, DCLK1 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.02) and poor cancer-specific survival (p = 0.049).
Pooled results showed that DCLK1 was highly expressed in tissues from cancer patients compared to normal tissues (OR, 10.00), and overexpression of DCLK1 was significantly correlated with advanced clinical stage (OR, 2.48), positive lymph node metastasis (OR, 2.18), poorly differentiated cancers (OR, 1.83) and poor overall survival (HR, 2.15).