AIM: To investigate the expression and
clinical significance of PAK4 in the
cell lines and
tissues of
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
METHODS: PAK4 expression in
human bronchial epithelial (HBE)
cells , NSCLC
cell lines , NSCLC
tissues and adjacent non-
tumor tissues were assessed by
immunohistochemistry ,
real-time PCR and
Western blot .Prognostic value of PAK4 expression was evaluated by
Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression.RE-SULTSPAK4 was over-expressed in the NSCLC
cell lines at both
mRNA and
protein levels compared with HBE
cells ( P<0.05).PAK4 was over-expressed in the NSCLC
tissues at both
mRNA and
protein levels compared with adjacent non-
tumor tissues (P<0.05).PAK4 was over-expressed in the metastatic NSCLC
tissues compared with the primary NSCLC
tissues (P<0.05).Higher PAK4
staining scores were positively correlated with differentiation,
lymph node metastasis , distant
metastasis , and clinical stage.
Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test showed that overall
survival was significantly different between the
patients with up-regulated PAK4 and the
patients with down-regulated PAK4 ( P<0.05) .PAK4 over-expression was associated with NSCLC progression.
CONCLUSION: Increased PAK4 expression was associated with
tumor invasion,
metastasis and
prognosis in the
patients with NSCLC.PAK4 is an important prognostic marker and potential ther-apeutic target in NSCLC.