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Background/aim: To investigate the impact of PDZ-binding kinase (PBK) on the clinical outcome of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) who received radiotherapy., Patients and Methods: PBK immunoreactivity of cancer specimens obtained from 179 patients with primary OSCC was analyzed by immunohistochemistry., Results: High PBK expression in tumor cells tended to be associated with advanced N-stage. The 5-year survival rate was greater for patients with high total PBK expression than in those with low PBK expression. After adjustment, high PBK remained associated with a favorable outcome. In subgroups according to tumor stage, the prognostic role was significant in patients with stage III/IV rather than those with stage I/II disease., Conclusion: We suggest that PBK expression should be used as an independent prognostic marker for patients with OSCC treated with radiotherapy, especially for those with advanced-stage disease., (Copyright © 2021 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Background/aim: To characterize the potential roles of CEP55 in colorectal cancer development and assess its eligibility as a prognostic diagnosis tool for colorectal cancer., Patients and Methods: Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis of CEP55 immunoreactivity in 166 cancer specimens from colorectal cancer patients., Results: CEP55 was not found to statistically significantly affect different patient clinical parameters. Multivariate analysis illustrated that patients with N stage (1+2) colorectal cancer and high CEP55 expression had a significantly lower five-year survival rate than patients with N stage (1+2) colorectal cancer and low CEP55 expression., Conclusion: There is a correlation between CEP55 and advanced N-stage colorectal cancer. Thus, CEP55 may be a potential diagnostic biomarker for colorectal cancer patients., (Copyright© 2021, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Objective: Lung adenocarcinoma is a non-small cell lung cancer, a common cancer in both genders, and has poor clinical outcome. Our aim was to evaluate the role of epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domain multiple 6 (EGFL6) and its prognostic significance in lung adenocarcinoma., Methods: EGFL6 expression was studied by immunohistochemical staining of specimens from 150 patients with lung adenocarcinoma. The correlation between clinicopathological features and EGFL6 expression was quantitatively analysed. We used Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models to examine the prognostic value of EGFL6 in terms of overall survival., Results: No significant correlation was found between EGFL6 expression and clinical parameters. However, patients with high levels of EGFL6 expression showed a tendency towards poor prognosis, with borderline statistical significance. Grouping the patients according to a medium age value revealed a significant association between high EGFL6 expression and poor clinical outcome in young patients. This finding was further confirmed by grouping the patients into three groups according to age. HR in patients with high EGFL6 expression was higher in younger patients than in older patients., Conclusion: High EGFL6 expression may serve as a marker for poor prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma, especially in younger patients., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood is an indication of poor prognosis for patients with different cancer types. However, most of the available technologies for detecting CTCs show low sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, we attempted to find an alternative marker for CTCs of colorectal cancer. We have directly extracted RNA from CTCs contained in 1.5 mL peripheral blood from 90 colorectal cancer patients and 151 healthy donors, and screened these samples for candidate marker genes by nested real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). From genes selected from a public database of microarray analyses, we successfully identified epithelial cell transforming sequence 2 oncogene ( ECT2 ) as a gene that exhibits high differential expression ratios ( p < 0.01). ECT2 displays good sensitivity and specificity, with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.821. This marker gene also has a high detection rate in patients with serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentrations below the diagnostic threshold of 5 ng/mL. The expression of ECT2 can therefore serve as an alternative measurement that can compensate for the inadequacy of the current CEA test in the diagnosis and monitoring of colorectal cancer patients.

Oral cancer is a common cancer with poor prognosis. We evaluated the expression of PBK/TOPK (PDZ-binding kinase/T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase) and its prognostic significance in oral cancer. PBK/TOPK expression was measured by immunohistochemical staining of samples from 287 patients with oral cancer. The association between PBK/TOPK expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed. The prognostic value of PBK/TOPK for overall survival was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models. A high PBK/TOPK expression level was correlated with long overall survival. The prognostic role of PBK/TOPK expression was significant in young patients (p < 0.05), patients with smoking habits (p < 0.05), and late stage disease (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that PBK/TOPK expression is enhanced in oral cancer. High PBK/TOPK expression, either alone or in subgroups according to clinicopathological features, may serve as a favorable prognostic marker for patients with oral cancer.

STEAP1 (six transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate 1) is a transmembrane protein that functions as a potential channel or transporter protein. It is overexpressed in certain cancers and is viewed as a promising therapeutic target. However, the prognostic role of STEAP1 is still controversial, and no role for STEAP1 has yet been indicated in colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible association of STEAP1 expression with colorectal cancer prognosis. STEAP1 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining of a tissue array of 165 cancer specimens from primary colorectal cancer patients. The mean and medium follow-up times after surgery were 5.1 and 3.9 years, respectively. A total of 139 patients died during the 13 years of follow-up in the survey period. The prognostic value of STEAP1 with respect to overall survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models. In total, 164 samples displayed detectable STEAP1 expression in the cytoplasm and membrane. Low STEAP1 expression was correlated with poor overall survival (five-year survival: 33.7% vs. 57.0%, low expression vs. high expression, p = 0.020). Accordingly, multivariate analysis identified low STEAP1 expression as an independent risk factor (hazard ratio = 1.500, p = 0.018), especially in elderly patients or those with late stage cancers, late T values, and early N values. We suggest that analysis of STEAP1 expression by immunohistochemical staining could serve as an independent prognostic marker for colorectal patients. This finding should be validated by other investigative groups.

Rac GTPase activating protein 1 (RACGAP1) plays a regulatory role in initiation of cytokinesis, control of cell growth and differentiation, and tumor malignancy, making it a potential prognostic biomarker. RACGAP1 is present in the nucleus, but a diffuse distribution in the cytoplasm also occurs. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of nuclear and cytoplasmic expression of RACGAP1 on clinical outcome to provide further evidence of a role in colorectal cancer. RACGAP1 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 166 cancer specimens from primary colorectal cancer patients. The mean follow-up time after surgery was 5.4 years (range, 0.01-13.10 years). The prognostic value of RACGAP1 on overall survival was validated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression models. RACGAP1 is expressed in colorectal specimen and is present in both the nucleus and cytoplasm in different amounts. Colorectal cancer patients had opposite prognoses depending on the site of RACGAP1 expression. Patients with high nuclear RACGAP1 expression had poor outcomes, whereas those with high cytoplasmic RACGAP1 expression had favorable prognosis (P = .003 and P = .001, respectively). Patients with low nuclear but high cytoplasmic RACGAP1 expression had better survival compared with those with other combinations (P < .001). We suggest that RACGAP1 expression levels in the nucleus and cytoplasm, determined by immunohistochemical staining, predict opposite clinical outcomes and that both could be independent prognostic markers for colorectal cancer., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

PD-L1 has been widely demonstrated to contribute to failed antitumor immunity. Blockade of PD-L1 with monoclonal antibody could modulate the tumor immune environment to augment immunotherapy. PD-L1 expression is also detected in several types of cancer and is associated with poor prognosis. However, the prognostic role of PD-L1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still controversial. Our aim was to determine the role of PD-L1 in the prognosis of OSCC patients to identify its potential therapeutic relevance. PD-L1 immunoreactivity was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 305 cancer specimens from primary OSCC patients. The medium follow-up time after surgery was 3.8 years (range from 0.1 to 11.1 years). The prognostic value of PD-L1 on overall survival was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models. Higher PD-L1 expression is more likely in tumor tissues of female than male OSCC patients (P = 0.0062). Patients with distant metastasis also had high PD-L1 expression (P = 0.0103). Multivariate analysis identified high PD-L1 expression as an independent risk factor in males and smokers (males: hazard ratio = 1.556, P = 0.0077; smokers: hazard ratio = 2.058, P = 0.0004). We suggest that PD-L1 expression, determined by IHC staining, could be an independent prognostic marker for OSCC patients who are male or who have a smoking habit.