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Prognostic values of ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 expressions for poor survival in non-small cell lung cancer

Tumor Biology volume 36, pages 4143–4150 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

The extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2, as a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family, plays a crucial role in the development of cancer. However, little is known about the prognostic value of ERK1/2 and phosphorylated ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Thus, we investigated their prognostic values and analyzed the associations between their expressions and clinicopathological features in NSCLC patients. We examined ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 expressions via immunohistochemistry in 183 NSCLC samples. The prognostic significances of protein expression were evaluated with univariate and multivariate survival analysis. Of the specimens, 44.8 and 44.3 % revealed positive staining for ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2, respectively. There were 24.6 % specimens with both ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2-positive expression. The results showed p-ERK1/2-positive expression was an independent prognostic factor for poor overall survival (OS) in NSCLC patients on both univariate analysis (p < 0.0001) and multivariate analysis (p = 0.0000). Meanwhile, the positive expression of both proteins was also associated with poor OS (p = 0.002). With respect to clinicopathological features, the tumor differentiation was significantly associated with the positivity of ERK1/2, p-ERK1/2, and both proteins, while histological type was only related to ERK1/2. However, there were no significant differences between the expressions and other clinical features, such as gender, age, smoking, tumor–node–metastasis (TNM) stage, lymph node metastasis, and treatments. The p-ERK1/2-positive expression was associated with adverse outcomes, and the positive expression of both ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 proteins was also related to poor OS. Therefore, the positivity of p-ERK1/2 expression may serve as a vital biomarker in the development of NSCLC.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Li Li and Fei Chen in the Key Laboratory of Transplant Engineering and Immunology, Ministry of Health, West China Hospital, for their help in the laboratory work. This work was supported by grants from the Nature Science Foundation of China (812410-68, 81372504).

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Respiratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Shuang Zhao, Zhi-xin Qiu & Wei-min Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Transplant Engineering and Immunology, Ministry of Health, West China Hospital, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Li Zhang

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  1. Shuang Zhao
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  2. Zhi-xin Qiu
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  3. Li Zhang
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  4. Wei-min Li
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Correspondence to Wei-min Li.

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Zhao, S., Qiu, Zx., Zhang, L. et al. Prognostic values of ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 expressions for poor survival in non-small cell lung cancer. Tumor Biol. 36, 4143–4150 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3048-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3048-4

Keywords

  • The extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2
  • Prognosis
  • Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)