Abstract:Objective To explore expression and clinical significance of caudal -related homeobox 2(CDX2) and osteopontin (OPN) in colon adenocarcinoma tissues. Methods The expressions of CDX2 and OPN in colon adenocarcinoma tissues of 58 cases, colon adenoma tissues of 30 cases and normal colon tissues of 30 cases were detected with immunohistochemical SP method. And their correlations with clinicopathological features were analyzed. Results The positive expression rate of CDX2 in the colon adenocarcinoma, the colon adenoma and the normal colon tissues was 62.1% (36/58), 86.7% (26/30) and 93.3% (28/30) respectively. The CDX2 positive expression rate in the colon adenocarcinoma was significantly lower than that in the colon adenoma and the normal colon tissues (p < 0.05). The positive expression rate of OPN in the colon adenocarcinoma, the colon adenoma and the normal colon tissues was 74.1% (43/58), 40.0% (12/30) and26.7% (8/30) respectively. The OPN positive expression rate in the colon adenocarcinoma was significantly higher than that in the colon adenoma and the normal colon tissues (p < 0.05). The CDX2 positive expression rate in the colon adenocarcinoma was related with tumor infiltration depth and differentiation degree (p < 0.05).The OPN positive expression rate in the colon adenocarcinoma was related with tumor infiltration depth and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Neither CDX2 nor OPN was correlated with age, sex or tumor shape. Spearman correlation analysis showed that there was a negative correlation between the expressions of CDX2 and OPN in the colon adenocarcinoma (p < 0.05). Conclusions The expressions of CDX2 and OPN may be correlated to the occurrence, development and prognosis of colon adenocarcinoma. CDX2 and OPN are in a negative correlation in colon adenocarcinoma tissues. The combined detection is important for early diagnosis and prognosis assessment of colon adenocarcinoma.