title: Expression of Aurora-B and FOXM1 predict poor survival in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this work was to investigate the relationship between Aurora-B, FOXM1, and clinical outcomes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who were treated with a combination of induction chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of Aurora-B and FOXM1 were investigated by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray (TMA) containing samples from 166 NPC patients who were treated with cisplatin (DDP) + fluorouracil (5-FU) induction chemotherapy and radiotherapy between 1999 and 2005. The relationship of Aurora-B, FOXM1, and survival of these NPC patients was analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Informative TMA results were obtained in 91 tumor cases for Aurora-B and 93 tumor cases for FOXM1. The 8-year failure-free survival rate (FFS) for the Aurora-B-negative and Aurora-B-positive group was 65.6 and 37.3%, respectively (p = 0.024), and the 8-year distant FFS (D-FFS) rate was 65.6 and 41.5%, respectively (p = 0.047). The 8-year overall survival (OS) in the FOXM1-negative group was moderately higher than in the FOXM1-positive group (58.4 vs 39.1%, p = 0.081). Cox regression analysis revealed that for FFS, Aurora-B expression was a significant prognostic factor (p = 0.025), while for D-FFS, Aurora-B expression was a marginally significant prognostic factor (p = 0.056). When FOXM1 expression was analyzed, the Cox regression analyses showed that FOXM1 expression was a marginally significant prognostic factor (p = 0.056) for OS. Correlation analysis showed that Aurora-B and FOXM1 expression had no significant correlation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aurora-B and FOXM1 were both adverse prognostic markers for NPC patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. However, the two markers had no significant correlation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Pei-Yu
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dong-Hua
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Meng-Qing
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hai-Qiang
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D064107:Aurora Kinase B / Q000235:genetics*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D000072278:Forkhead Box Protein M1; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: C107585:FOXM1 protein, human; D000072278:Forkhead Box Protein M1; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C576921:AURKB protein, human; D064107:Aurora Kinase B