A Prognostic Activity of Glutaredoxin 1 Protein (Grx1) in Colon Cancer

Sep 21, 2026

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Glutaredoxin 1 (Grx1) is an essential redox enzyme that regulates redox signal transduction and reverses protein oxidation via deglutathionylation. Its influence on cancer development motivated analysis of Grx1 expression in colon adenocarcinoma samples from Polish patients with stages I–II and stage III lymph node metastasis. Immunohistochemistry linked Grx1 levels with clinical features including grade, invasion depth, angioinvasion, staging, lymph node invasion, and PCNA. Results showed ~88% high Grx1 in stage I versus ~1% in stage III, with high expression also in histologically normal mucosa, supported by qRT-PCR and Western blot.

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Article A Prognostic Activity of Glutaredoxin 1 Protein (Grx1) in Colon Cancer Marlena Brzozowa-Zasada 1, *, Adam Piecuch 1, Karolina Bajdak-Rusinek 2, Karolina Goła˛bek 3, Marek Michalski 1,4, Natalia Matysiak 2 and Zenon Czuba 5 Citation: Brzozowa-Zasada, M.; Piecuch, A.; Bajdak-Rusinek, K.; Goła˛bek, K.; Michalski, M.; Matysiak, N.; Czuba, Z. A Prognostic Activity of Glutaredoxin 1 Protein (Grx1) in Colon Cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25, 1007. [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)ijms25021007 Academic Editor: Peter J. K. Kuppen Received: 21 November 2023 Revised: 9 January 2024 Accepted: 11 January 2024 Published: 13 January 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Department of Histology and Cell Pathology in Zabrze, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-055 Katowice, Poland 2 Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-055 Katowice, Poland 3 Department of Medical and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Jordana 19, 41-808 Zabrze, Poland 4 Silesian Nanomicroscopy Centre in Zabrze, Silesia LabMed—Research and Implementation Centre, Medical University of Silesia, 40-055 Katowice, Poland 5 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Jordana 19, 41-808 Zabrze, Poland; [zczuba@sum.edu.pl](zczuba@sum.edu.pl) * [Correspondence: mbrzozowa@sum.edu](Correspondence: mbrzozowa@sum.edu) Abstract: Glutaredoxin 1 (Grx1) is an essential enzyme that regulates redox signal transduction and repairs protein oxidation by reversing S-glutathionylation, an oxidative modification of protein cysteine residues. Grx1 removes glutathione from proteins to restore their reduced state (protein-SH) and regulate protein-SSG levels in redox signaling networks. Thus, it can exert an influence on the development of cancer. To further investigate this problem, we performed an analysis of Grx1 expression in colon adenocarcinoma samples from the Polish population of patients with primary colon adenocarcinoma (stages I and II of colon cancer) and those with regional lymph node metastasis (stage III of colon cancer) . Our study revealed a significant correlation between the expression of Grx1 protein through immunohistochemical analysis and various clinical characteristics of patients, such as histological grade, depth of invasion, angioinvasion, staging, regional lymph node invasion, and PCNA expression. It was found that almost 88% of patients with stage I had high levels of Grx1 expression, while only 1% of patients with stage III exhibited high levels of Grx1 protein expression. Furthermore, the study discovered that high levels of Grx1 expression were present in samples of colon mucosa without any pathological changes. These results were supported by in vitro analysis conducted on colorectal cancer cell lines that corresponded to stages I, II, and III of colorectal cancer, using qRT-PCR and Western blot. Keywords: glutaredoxin 1; colorectal cancer; adenocarcinoma; ELISA; cancer cell lines; oxidative stress 1. Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequent cancer in the world [1] . Diagnosing cancer at an early stage is essential, as the five-year relative survival rate for patients with stage I colorectal cancer is approximately 92%, compared to less than 10% for those with stage IV disease [1] . The survival of colorectal cancer patients has not improved significantly despite

FAQs

What is Grx1 and why is it relevant to colon cancer prognosis?

Grx1 is a redox enzyme that regulates redox signaling and repairs protein oxidation by reversing S-glutathionylation. Because it can affect cancer development, Grx1 expression was evaluated for prognostic associations.

How were Grx1 expression levels measured in patient samples?

Grx1 expression was analyzed using immunohistochemical analysis and correlated with multiple clinicopathological characteristics of patients.

What key pattern did the study find across colon cancer stages?

Approximately 88% of stage I patients showed high Grx1 expression, whereas only about 1% of stage III patients exhibited high Grx1 protein levels, and high expression was also observed in colon mucosa without pathological changes.

Sep 21, 2026

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