Objective      To investigate the expression of E-cadherin (E-cad) and CD44v6 in human obstructive colorectal cancer and their relationships with prognosis.       Methods      Forty-eight cases of obstructive colorectal cancer

121 cases of non-obstructive colorectal cancer

and 30 cases of adjacent non-tumor tissues were selected for immunohistochemical staining of E-cad and CD44v6 proteins. Survival curves were described with Kaplan-Meier analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed with Cox proportional hazard model.       Results      There were significant differences in the standardized positive rates of E-cad and CD44v6 between obstructive colorectal cancer group and non-obstructive colorectal cancer group (30.2% vs 51.8%

81.3% vs 58.9%

P0.05). The expression of E-cad was correlated to pTNM stage

node involvement

histological grade and depth of invasion (P0.05). The expression of CD44v6 was correlated to pTNM stage and node involvement. Univariate survival analysis showed that obstruction and expression of CD44v6 and E-cad were the risk factors for prognosis. Cox multivariate analysis showed that the expression of E-cad

node involvement and histological grade were the independent risk factors for the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.       Conclusion      Down-regulated expression of E-cad and up-regulated expression of CD44v6 are closely related to poor prognosis of the patients with obstructive colorectal cancer.