Gene Expression Signature to Improve Prognosis Prediction of Stage II and III Colorectal Cancer

By Ramón Salazar in collaboration with Agendia The study develops a robust gene expression classifier that can predict disease relapse in patients with early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC). Fresh frozen tumor tissue from 188 patients with stage I to IV CRC undergoing surgery was analyzed using Agilent 44K oligonucleotide arrays. An optimal set of 18 genes was identified and used to construct a prognostic classifier (ColoPrint). The signature was validated on an independent set of 206 samples from patients with stage I, II,and III CRC. The signature classified 60% of patients as low risk and 40% as high risk. J Clin Oncol 28. © 2010 by American Society of Clinical Oncology