The goal of this project is the determination of the frequency in colorectal carcinoma of a group of biochemical and molecular markers that have been shown in tissue culture of pilot tissue studies to be associated with the development or progression of this disease. The further goal is the investigation of whether any marker or constellation of markers correlates with the biology or natural history of Duke's B2 or C colorectal carcinoma who are participating in CALGB protocols for the study of the efficacy of adjuvant therapy for colon carcinoma or rectal carcinoma. The markers to be studied include expression of the lck tyrosine protein kinase and collagenase type 4, which have been shown to be overexpressed in over 70% of colon carcinoma tissues. Each sample will also be screened for the expression of mutated p53 is a suppressor gene that has been shown to be mutated in a majority of colorectal carcinomas. The frequency of each of these markers in these samples will be measured, correlated with the frequency of the others, and with the frequency of ras mutations and loss of specific alleles i the same samples. Whether subgroups of tumors are defined by expression of particular ensembles of markers will be determined. Expression of individual markers will be correlated with stage, tumor location, morphologic differentiation, relapse rate, and survival as a function of therapy received. A prime aim of this study is to investigate Duke's B and C colorectal carcinoma will relapse and to define groups within which adjuvant therapy may or may not be indicated or useful.
