The expression of TLR3 in colorectal cancer and its significance

QUE Haosheng; ZHANG Ying; ZHOU Shuping

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-0460.2025.01.002

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of Toll like receptor 3(TLR3)in normal colorectal mucosa,colorectal polyps and adenocarcinoma,and further analyze the relationship between its expression level and the progression and carcinogenesis of colorectal polyps.Methods Bioinformatics was used to analyze the expression and survival status of TLR3 in normal colorectal mucosa and colorectal cancer from TCGA and CPTAC databases.A total of 156 paraffin embedded specimens of colorectal polyps,colorectal adenocarcinoma and corresponding adjacent tissues(82 colorectal polyps,37 adenocarcinoma and 37 normal adjacent colon mucosa)from January 2022 to December 2023 were collected.Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression level of TLR3 in the above tissues and the relationship of TLR3 with clinicopathological characteristics of colorectal adenocarcinoma was also analyzed.Results Bioinformatics analysis showed that the expression of TLR3 in colorectal adenocarcinoma tissues was significantly lower than that in normal tissues,and patients with low TLR3 expression had a worse prognosis(P<0.05).Immunohistochemical results indicated that the positive expression rates of TLR3 in colorectal adenocarcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues were 22/37(59.5%)and 32/37(86.5%),respectively,with statistically significant difference(P<0.05).The expression of TLR3 gradually decreased in hyperplastic polyps,adenomatous polyps and adenocarcinoma tissues,with statistically significant difference(P<0.05).The expression level of TLR3 was related to tumor diameter and differentiation degree(P<0.05);gender,age,tumor location,depth of invasion,lymph node metastasis,TNM stage,nerve and vascular invasion were not related to TLR3 expression(P>0.05).Conclusion The expression level of TLR3 in tumor tissues is lower than that in normal tissues,and the expression of TLR3 decreases gradually with the progression of"polyp-adenoma-adenocarcinoma".Patients with low expression of TLR3 have a poor prognosis.