ONCOmmunity

Nuclear expression of phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase is associated with poor prognosis in human colorectal cancer.

By: Abdulkader Albasri, Wakkas Fadhil, John H Scholefield, Lindy G Durrant, Mohammad Ilyas

Division of Pathology, School of Molecular Medical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, U.K. Division of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tibah, Medina, Saudi Arabia.
2014-7-31; doi:

Abstract

Aim

To determine whether phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase (P-FAK) has prognostic value in colorectal cancer (CRC) and to test whether it has any association with Tensin 4 (TNS4) expression.

Materials

P-FAK expression was assessed using immunohistochemistry in 462 CRC cases arrayed on a tissue microarray. P-FAK and TNS4 expression were assessed by immunohistochemistry in 40 cases of paired primary colorectal cancer and corresponding hepatic metastases.

Results

Nuclear P-FAK expression was observed in 44% of studied cases. Positive nuclear P-FAK expression was associated with shorter disease-specific survival in univariate (p=0.005) and multivariate analysis (p=0.016). P-FAK expression was greater in metastases than the primary tumours (p<0.001) and showed significant association with nuclear TNS4 (p<0.001) in metastases.

Conclusion

P-FAK expression is an independent prognostic marker in CRC. The present data suggest that the FAK signalling pathway may interact with TNS4, a known oncogene in CRC.