Expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 2-associated protein 1 confers an independent prognosticator in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
Low expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 2-associated protein (CDK2AP1) is associated with tumour progression in oral and oesophageal carcinomas, but is not well studied in patients with head and neck cancer and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).


METHODS
A rabbit anti-human CDK2AP1 polyclonal antibody was prepared. Immunoblotting of CDK2AP1 was examined in three cell lines and immunoexpression was retrospectively assessed in biopsies of 124 consecutive NPC patients without initial distant metastasis and treated with consistent guidelines.


RESULTS
Higher CDK2AP1 expression level was identified in dysplastic oral keratinocytes, compared with two NPC-derived HONE-1 and TW01 cell lines. Low expression of CDK2AP1 (50.8%) was correlated with advanced nodal status (p=0.002) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage (p=0.004). In multivariate analyses, low CDK2AP1 expression emerged as an independent prognosticator for worse disease-specific survival (DSS; p=0.037) and local recurrence-free survival (LRFS; p=0.042), along with AJCC stage III-IV (p=0.034, DSS; p=0.029, LRFS).


CONCLUSIONS
Low CDK2AP1 expression is common and associated with adverse prognosticators, conferring tumour aggressiveness through cycle cycle, cell growth or apoptosis cellular processes.
Department of Pathology, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
Li-Ching
LC
Wu
Yi-Ling
YL
Chen
Wen-Ren
WR
Wu
Chien-Feng
CF
Li
Hsuan-Ying
HY
Huang
Sung-Wei
SW
Lee
Shih-Lun
SL
Chang
Ching-Yih
CY
Lin
Yi-Hsien
YH
Chen
Han-Ping
HP
Hsu
Pei-Jung
PJ
Lu
Yow-Ling
YL
Shiue
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001706:Biopsy; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002277:Carcinoma; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014162:Transfection; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C096151:CDK2AP1 protein, human; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins