Background: Int-2 (fibroblast growth factor-3) is a gene that belongs to
the fibroblast growth factor gene family. It has been implicated in the
carcinogenesis of several types of cancer, including esophageal squamous
cell carcinoma, breast, head, and neck and lung carcinomas; but no firm
data on its biological activity regarding neoplasms arising from the
glandular epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract exists.
Methods: In the present immunohistochemical study, we investigated the
presence of int-2 encoded protein in a panel of 80 cases of colon
carcinoma of various stages, grades and sizes. A sheep antihuman int-2
antibody was applied to paraffin-embedded tissue sections from the tumor
samples. The percentage of int-2 immunostaining in the positively
stained specimens was evaluated by image analysis.
Results: Int-2 was positively detected in only four tumors (i.e. 5% of
the cases examined). All immunopositive cases were moderately
differentiated tumors; the adjacent mucosa did not express int-2
protein. The relevant patients were male.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the role of int-2 in colorectal
carcinogenesis is probably a limited one. (C) 2002 Blackwell Publishing
Asia Pty Ltd