Expression of p114RhoGEF predicts lymph node metastasis and poor survival of squamous-cell lung carcinoma patients.

The Rho-specific guanine nucleotide exchanging factor p114RhoGEF is involved in RhoA activation and cell motility. Previous studies suggest that altered expression of p114RhoGEF could contribute to cancer progression. We investigated an association of p114RhoGEF expression with progression and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect p114RhoGEF expression in 105 NSCLC (34 adenocarcinoma and 71 squamous-cell carcinoma) and 32 normal lung tissues. We found that p114RhoGEF expression was upregulated in squamous-cell lung carcinoma and that p114RhoGEF expression was significantly higher in squamous-cell carcinoma than in adenocarcinoma or normal tissues (P<0.05, both). Expression of p114RhoGEF protein was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis of lung cancer (P<0.05), but not with patients' age, gender, tumor size, differentiation, or stage. Expression of p114RhoGEF protein was also associated with poor overall and event-free survival of squamous-cell lung carcinoma patients (P<0.05). Taken together, p114RhoGEF expression may be useful in predicting progression and survival of squamous-cell lung carcinoma patients. A future study will investigate whether p114RhoGEF can serve as a novel therapeutic target in squamous-cell lung cancer.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes