Objective        To investigate the expression of Ascl2 and microRNA-200 family members in colorectal cancer and their peri-cancerous mucosa tissues and determine their correlations.       Methods        The expression of Ascl2 mRNA and microRNA-200 family members in 50 colorectal cancer samples and their peri-cancerous mucosa was detected by real time-PCR. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 18 statistical software.       Results         The mRNA expression level of Ascl2 was significantly higher in cancerous samples than the corresponding peri-cancerous mucosa (P0.01)

while the levels of microRNA-200 family members were significantly lower in cancerous samples than the peri-cancerous mucosa (P0.05)

except that no difference was found in microRNA-429 expression between the 2 tissue samples (P=0.2139). The expression level of Ascl2 was negatively correlated with those of microRNA-200 family members (rP0.05).       Conclusion        The expression level of Ascl2 is increased

while those of microRNA-200 family members are decreased in colorectal cancer tissues when compared with the corresponding peri-cancerous tissues. And the expression levels are negatively correlated.