title: The BCL11A-XL expression predicts relapse in squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The B cell leukemia 11A (BCL11A) gene was identified as a proto-oncogene in hematopoietic cell malignancies and breast cancer. Alternative RNA splicing generates three main transcripts designated as Extra-long (XL; 5.9 kb/125 kD), Long (L; 3.8 kb/100 kD) and Short (S; 2.4 kb/35 kD). Our previous study results demonstrated that BCL11A expression levels were specifically upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues, especially in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and large cell carcinoma (LCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, we detected the BCL11A protein isoforms with immunohistochemistry (IHC) method in NSCLC with in a cohort (n=40) of BCL11A overexpression NSCLC patients. All 40 cases were BCL11A overexpression including 27 SCCs, 8 LCCs and 5 adenocarcinomas (ACs). Relationship between BCL11A isoforms and the clinicopathological parameters were also analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compare to the BCL11A-L and S isoforms, the BCL11A-XL isoform was specifically expressed in SCC and LCC (P=0.006). There were 19 (19/40, 47.5%) cases positive for BCL11A-XL expression, SCC accounted for 63.2% (12/19) and LCC accounted for 36.8% (7/19). The survival analysis indicated that BCL11A-XL expression was an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival (DFS) [hazards ratio (HR) 0.246; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.065-0.939, P=0.040] but not for overall survival (OS) in patients with SCC and LCC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrated that the BCL11A-XL isoform might be a potential prognostic biomarker of SCC and LCC.
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ben-Yuan
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xu-Chao
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jie-Fei
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: 1 Southern Medical University, Graduate School, Guangzhou, China ; 2 Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Long
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: BCL11A-XL; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); prognosis