Lemur tyrosine kinase-3 is a significant prognostic marker for patients with colorectal cancer.
Lemur tyrosine kinase-3 (LMTK3) belongs to the family of serine-threonine-tyrosine kinases and the aberrant expression of LMTK3 was observed in several human malignancies. However, the association of LMTK3 with clinical outcomes in colorectal cancer patients is unclear. Thus, this present study was to evaluate the association of LMTK3 expression level with clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The expression level of LMTK3 in 69 archival paraffin-embedded colorectal tumor tissue specimens was examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). As a result, we found that the LMTK3 expression level was significantly elevated in CRC tissues as compared with Crohn's disease or colorectal polyp tissues (P<0.0001, P<0.0001, respectively). Positive LMTK3 signals in the colorectal cancer cells were observed in about 89.9% (62 of 69) CRC tissue specimens. Additionally, LMTK3 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification (P=0.003, and P=0.008, respectively), but not with sex, age, tumor location, histological differentiation, tumor size, or depth of tumor invasion (all P>0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the overall survival rate was significantly higher in the patients with low expression of LMTK3 when compared with those patients with high LMTK3 (P=0.010). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that LMTK3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for CRC patients (P=0.047). These results suggest that LMTK3 protein could serve as a prognostic marker for CRC patients.
Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Hongbing
H
Shi
Department of Pathology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Qing
Q
Li
Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Mei
M
Ji
Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Jun
J
Wu
Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Zhengguang
Z
Li
Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Xiao
X
Zheng
Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Bin
B
Xu
Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Lujun
L
Chen
Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Xiaodong
X
Li
Department of Pathology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Changqing
C
Lu
Department of Pathology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Yan
Y
Tan
Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Changping
C
Wu
Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Soochow, China.
Jingting
J
Jiang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C560359:LMTK3 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
Colorectal cancer; immunohistochemistry (ihc); lemur tyrosine kinase-3 (lmtk3); prognosis