RIPK3 expression as a potential predictive and prognostic marker in metastatic colon cancer

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the primary causes of cancer-related deaths and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) therapy remains the cornerstone of treatment in these patients. Resistance to 5-FU represents a major obstacle; therefore, finding new predictive and prognostic markers is crucial for improvement of patient outcomes. Recently a new type of programmed cell death was discovered-necroptosis, which depends on receptor interacting protein 3 (RIPK3). Preclinical data showed that necroptotic cell death is an important effector mechanism of 5-FU-mediated anticancer activity.

Purpose: To investigate the predictive and prognostic performance of RIPK3 expression in primary tumors.

Methods: Colon cancer patients (n=74) with metastatic stage were included in this retrospective study and all were treated with first-line 5-FU based chemotherapy. Immunohistochemical staining was performed.

Results: The progression free survival for the low expression group of RIPK3 was 5.6 months (95% CI, 4.4-6.8) vs 8.4 months (95% CI, 6.4-10.3) of the group with high expression (p=0.02). Moreover, patients with high expression of RIPK3 were associated with lower risk of disease progression HR 0.61 (95% CI, 0.38-0.97; p=0.044). Patients with high expression levels of RIPK3 also had significantly longer mean overall survival (OS) of 29.3 months (95% CI, 20.8-37.8) as compared with those with low expression: 18.5 months (95% CI, 15.06-21.9) (p= 0.036). In addition, univariate analysis showed that high level of RIPK3 expression was associated with a longer OS HR 0.59 (95% CI, 0.35-0.98; p=0.044).

Conclusions: This study suggests that expression of RIPK3 in primary tumors of metastatic colon cancer patients should be further investigated for its potential as a promising predictive and prognostic marker.