title: The prognostic significance of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 in non-small-cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) has been proved to be correlated with progression and prognosis in many cancers. However, the significance of FGFR4 in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still not well elucidated.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our experiment, we detected FGFR4 expression in 237 samples of NSCLC with immunohistochemistry, and further analyzed the correlation between FGFR4 and clinicopathologic features of NSCLC with chi-square test. Moreover, we evaluated the prognostic value of FGFR4 by Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox regression model. By regulating the expression of FGFR4 by overexpression or knockdown, we assessed the role of FGFR4 on NSCLC cell proliferation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FGFR4 expression was high in NSCLC (46.8%, 111/237). FGFR4 expression was significantly associated with tumor diameter (P=0.039). With univariate (P=0.009) and multivariate (P=0.002) analysis, FGFR4 was identified as an independent prognostic factor in NSCLC (P=0.009). Moreover, FGFR4 can promote the proliferation of NSCLC cell lines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FGFR4 is an independent prognostic biomarker in NSCLC. FGFR4 can accelerate the proliferation of NSCLC cell lines, indicating FGFR4 could be a potential drug target of NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Linyi Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Linyi City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hong-Ping
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Linyi Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Linyi City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Linyi Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Linyi City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hong-Bo
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Linyi Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Linyi City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ze-Xiang
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Linyi Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Linyi City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ge-Dong
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Zhu
keywords: fibroblast growth factor 4; non-small-cell lung cancer; prognosis; proliferation