title: Increased expression of pAKT is associated with radiation resistance in cervical cancer.
abstract: Phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) is a major contributor to radioresistance in human cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of pAKT expression and radiation resistance in cervical cancer. A retrospective review was made of the records of 27 women who received primary radiation therapy due to locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) with FIGO stage IIB-IVA. Nine patients regarded as radiation resistant developed local recurrences with a median progression free interval of 9 months. Eighteen patients did not show local recurrences, and were regarded as a radiation-sensitive group. Using pretreatment paraffin-embedded tissues, we evaluated pAKT expression by immunohistochemistry. A significant association was found between the level of pAKT expression and local recurrence. Immunohistochemical staining for pAKT was significantly more frequent in the radiation-resistant than in the radiation-sensitive group (P=0.004). The mean progression-free survival was 86 months for patients with pAKT-negative staining (19 cases) and 44 months for patients with pAKT-positive expression (eight cases) (P=0.008). These results suggest that signalling from phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/pAKT can lead to radiation resistance, and that evaluation of pAKT may be a prognostic marker for response to radiotherapy in LACC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-Dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
authors.forename: T-J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J-W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: J-J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: B-G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: D-S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bae
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D051058:Oncogene Protein v-akt / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011836:Radiation Tolerance / Q000235:genetics*; D012008:Recurrence; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy
chemical_list: D051058:Oncogene Protein v-akt