Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (
CEACAM1) is known to be downregulated at the transcriptional level in
adenoma and
carcinoma. Recent reports have shown that
CEACAM1 is overexpressed at
protein level in
colorectal cancer and correlated with clinical stage. The reason why
colorectal cancer cells re-expressed
CEACAM1 remains unclear. The aim of our study was to clarify the implication of
CEACAM1 re-expression in
colorectal cancer. Immunohistochemical analyses were conducted with
CEACAM1 long (CEACAM1-L) or short (CEACAM1-S) cytoplasmic domain-specific
antibodies on clinical samples from 164 patients with
colorectal cancer. The risk factors for
metastasis and survival were calculated for clinical implication of
CEACAM1 re-expression. Invasion chamber and wound healing assays were performed for the effect of
CEACAM1 expression on invasion and migration of
colorectal cancer cells. CEACAM1-L and CEACAM1-S stained with greater intensity at the invasion front than at the
luminal surface of
tumors. Differences between the long and short cytoplasmic
isoform expression levels were observed at the invasion front. Multivariate analysis showed that CEACAM1-L dominance was an independent risk factor for
lymph node metastasis, hematogenous
metastasis and short survival. The Kaplan-Meier evaluation demonstrated that CEACAM1-L dominance was associated with shorter survival time (p < 0.0001). In the invasion chamber and wound healing assays, CEACAM1-L promoted invasion and migration. Re-expression of
CEACAM1 is observed at the invasion front of
colorectal cancer. CEACAM1-L dominance is associated with
metastasis and shorter survival of the patients with
colorectal cancer. CEACAM1-L dominance is important for
colorectal cancer cells invasion and migration.