Neuroendocrine differentiation: a risk fellow in colorectal cancer

Abstract Background Neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) is often found in colorectal cancer (CRC) and may have unique biological behavior, which has not been previously delineated. Here, we explore the relationship between CRC, NED, and clinicopathological factors. We also offer a preliminary explanation of the mechanism underlying the malignant biological behavior of NED in CRC. Methods Between 2013 and 2015, 394 CRC patients who underwent radical operations were selected for analysis. The relationship between NED and clinicopathological factors was analyzed. To further clarify the pivotal role of NED in CRC, we performed bioinformatic analyses and identified genes that may be involved in NED, which were obtained from in silico data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Then, we conducted functional enrichment analyses and confirmed the critical pathways for intensive study. Moreover, we detected the expression of key proteins by immunohistochemistry and analyzed the correlation of their expression with NED. Results The statistical analysis showed that CRC with NED was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis. Through bioinformatic analysis, we found that chromogranin A (CgA) was positively correlated with invasion and lymph node metastasis. ErbB2 and PIK3R1, which are key proteins in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, were closely related to NED. Furthermore, we determined that the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway likely plays a critical role in the NED of CRC. Conclusions CRC with NED is associated with lymph node metastasis. The PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, which is closely related to CRC, may be the mechanism promoting the malignant biological behavior of CRC with NED.