Purpose: We aim to explore the predictive values of homeobox gene A-antisense transcript 3 (HOXA-AS3), cystatin 6 (CST6), and chromobox homolog 4 (CBX4) expressions in cancer tissues for the recurrence of early colon cancer after surgery.
Patients and Methods: A total of 136 patients who received surgery from January 2020 to January 2021 were enrolled and followed up for 24 months to observe the recurrence after surgery, based on which they were assigned into recurrence and non-recurrence groups. All patients underwent a histopathological examination on admission.
Results: The recurrence group had a lower degree of differentiation as well as a higher HOXA-AS3 level and CST6 and CBX4 expression scores than those of the non-recurrence group (P< 0.05). HOXA-AS3 level, CST6 expression score, and CBX4 expression score were risk factors for the recurrence of early colon cancer after surgery [odds ratio (OR)> 1, P< 0.05]. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the areas under the curves of HOXA-AS3 level, CST6 expression score, CBX4 expression score, and their combination for predicting recurrence were 0.909 [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.785– 1.000], 0.819 (95% CI: 0.690– 0.948), 0.794 (95% CI: 0.663– 0.926), and 0.942 (95% CI: 0.882– 1.000), respectively.
Conclusion: The expressions of HOXA-AS3, CST6, and CBX4 in cancer tissues have close correlations with the recurrence of early colon cancer after surgery and are thus of high predictive values.

Keywords: colon cancer, expression, prediction, recurrence, surgery