Objective      To investigate the expression status of proline hydroxylase domain 2 (PHD2) in colorectal cancer and adjacent tissue

and to explore the clinical significance of PHD2.       Methods      Immunohistochemical staining was applied for the detection of PHD2 expression in 149 cases of colorectal cancer tissues

50 adjacent mucosa tissues and 50 cases of metastasis from three affiliated hospitals.       Results      The expression level of PHD2 in the colorectal cancer tissue was lower than that in the adjacent tissue. The positive expression rate of PHD2 in the colorectal cancer tissue was significantly lower than that in the adjacent tissue (48.9% vs 72.0%

P

0.01). PHD2 expression wa

s significantly correlated with tumor differentiation degree

clinical stage and metastasis (

P

0.01). The expression level of PHD2 in the colorectal cancer tissues was higher than that in the metastasis (64.0% vs 46.0%

P

0.05).       Conclusion      PHD2

which is mildly expressed in colorectal cancer tissue but highly expressed in adjacent tissue

plays an important role in the malignant progression of colorectal cancer.