Independent and sex-stratified association between microsatellite instability and peripheral hemoglobin in colorectal cancer.
Higher hemoglobin independently linked to lower odds of microsatellite instability-high colorectal cancer
Independent and sex-stratified association between microsatellite instability and peripheral hemoglobin in colorectal cancer.
Microsatellite instability (microsatellite instability) informs colorectal cancer (colorectal cancer) prognosis and treatment.
This exploratory study evaluated the association between microsatellite instability status and hemoglobin and described sex-stratified discrimination within the study cohort.
This retrospective study included 400 patients with stage II-III colorectal cancer.
higher hemoglobin independently linked to lower odds of MSI-H
The cohort included 95 MSI-H and 305 microsatellite-stable patients.
Hemoglobin was lower in MSI-H patients of both sexes (both P < 0.001).
The cohort-derived hemoglobin cutoffs were 125.0 g/L for males (AUC = 0.654) and 98.0 g/L for females (AUC = 0.693).
Expanded-model apparent AUCs were 0.740 and 0.762, while bootstrap-corrected AUCs were 0.678 and 0.700, respectively.
Lower hemoglobin was independently associated with microsatellite instability-H status, but its discrimination was modest and the expanded models showed optimism.
hemoglobin may warrant further evaluation as an adjunctive signal, but it cannot replace tumor-based MMR/microsatellite instability testing. Prospective external validation is required.