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Overexpression of eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha-2 is associated with poorer prognosis in patients with gastric cancer

  • Original Article – Clinical Oncology
  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha-2 (eEF1A2) is a protein translation factor involved in protein synthesis. It is overexpressed in various cancers, which indicates potential vital functions in tumorigenesis and progression. Our study aims to investigate the expression levels of eEF1A2 in gastric cancer and its roles in clinical practice.

Methods

A total of 129 patients with pathologically confirmed gastric cancer and 24 normal controls were recruited for this study. The expression levels of eEF1A2 in gastric cancer and normal tissues were evaluated by tissue microarrays, quantitative real-time PCR, and western blot analysis. Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox’s proportional hazards model were used in survival analysis.

Results

Compared with corresponding controls, gastric cancer specimens had significantly increased expressions of eEF1A2 at mRNA and protein levels (both P < 0.05). Moreover, multivariate analysis confirmed that overexpression of eEF1A2 was a significant and independent indicator for predicting poor prognosis of gastric cancer.

Conclusions

Our results showed for the first time that overexpression of eEF1A2 was correlated with worse outcomes in gastric cancer patients, suggesting its critical roles in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer.

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Abbreviations

eEF1A2:

Eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha-2

GC:

Gastric cancer

OS:

Overall survival

TMA:

Tissue microarray

TNM:

Tumor-node-metastasis

CI:

Confidence interval

NA:

Not available

NS:

Not significant

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the participation of patients. This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30871207, 81270454), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. 12070403086) and Key Project of Education Department of Anhui Province (KJ2008A154).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of General Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

      Song Yang, Mingdian Lu, Ruochuan Sun, Zhijie Zhao & Yongxiang Li

    2. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

      Yuanyuan Chen, Delong Meng, Dapeng Yun & Daru Lu

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    1. Song Yang
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    Correspondence to Daru Lu or Yongxiang Li.

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    Song Yang and Mingdian Lu have contributed equally to this work.

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    Yang, S., Lu, M., Chen, Y. et al. Overexpression of eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha-2 is associated with poorer prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 141, 1265–1275 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1897-7

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1897-7

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