B-cell-Specific Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus Integration Site 1 and Fas Ligand Expression in Colorectal Cancer Progression and Prognosis

Background: B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (BMI1) and Fas ligand (FasL) are two critical stemness genes believed to play a role in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to investigate the expression levels of these genes in primary CRC tumors to assess their correlation with cancer progression and prognosis. Methods: The relative expression levels of BMI1 and FasL were analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction in 100 primary CRC tumor samples along with paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The association between the gene expression levels in primary tumor tissues and clinicopathological features, as well as the overall survival of patients, was evaluated. Results: The primary cancerous tissues exhibited higher expression levels of BMI1 and FasL compared to their adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The relative expression levels of BMI1 and FasL were found to significantly correlate with tumor size, grade, TNM stage, metastasis (p = 0.0001 for all), and reduced overall survival time (p = 0.00001). Moreover, BMI1 and FasL emerged as independent prognostic factors in the multivariate Cox regression analysis. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that elevated levels of BMI1 and FasL in the cancerous tissue of colorectal cancer patients are linked to cancer progression and poor prognosis, highlighting their significant roles in the development of CRC.