High expression of NDRG3 associates with unfavorable overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Luo, Xianyuan^{a; 1} | Hou, Nan^{b; c; 1} | Chen, Xiaohua^d | Xu, Zhiping^d | Xu, Juqing^b | Wang, Lin^b | Yang, Shu^b | Liu, Suyao^b | Xu, Li^e | Chen, Yan^e | Xiong, Lin^f | Wang, Jun^{b; *} | Fan, Weifei^{b; *} | Xu, Jiaren^{b; c; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Internal Medicine, Suzhou Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Science and Technology Town Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China | [b] Geriatric Lung Cancer Research Laboratory, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Jiangsu Province Geriatric Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [c] Department of Hematology and Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [d] Department of Internal Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Kunshan Affiliated with Jiangsu University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China | [e] Department of Pathology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [f] Department of Pathology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding authors: Jun Wang, Geriatric Lung Cancer Research Laboratory, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Jiangsu Province Geriatric Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. E-mail: wangjun1959@njmu.edu.cnorWeifeiFan,DepartmentofHematologyandOncology,JiangsuProvinceGeriatricHospital,Nanjing,Jiangsu,China.E-mail:fwfei1974@163.comorJiarenXu,GeriatricLungCancerResearchLaboratory,DepartmentofHematologyandOncology,JiangsuProvinceGeriatricHospital,No.65JiangsuRoad;DepartmentofHematologyandOncology,TheSecondAffiliatedHospitalofNanjingMedicalUniversity,Nanjing,Jiangsu,China.E-mail:xujiaren2012@163.com.

Note: [1] Xianyuan Luo and Nan Hou contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: N-myc downstream-regulated gene 3 (NDRG3) is one of the important members of the NDRG family which crucially take part in cell proliferation, differentiation and other biological processes. METHODS: In this present study, western-blotting analysis was performed to evaluate NDRG3 expression in NSCLC cell lines. One-step quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) with 16 fresh-frozen NSCLC samples and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis in 100 NSCLC cases were conducted to explore the relationship between NDRG3 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC. RESULTS: NDRG3 expression levels were statistically higher in NSCLC cell lines and tissue samples, compared with that of in non-cancerous cell line and tissue samples (p< 0.05). The IHC data demonstrated that the NDRG3 expression was significantly correlated with pathological grade (p= 0.038), N (p= 0.020) and TNM stage (p= 0.002). Survival analysis and Kaplan-Meier curve indicated that NDRG3 expression (p= 0.002) and T (p= 0.047) were independently associated with the unfavorable overall survival of patients with NSCLC. CONCLUSIONS: The data implied that NDRG3 expression may be identified as a new predictor in NSCLC prognosis.

Keywords: NDRG3, NSCLC, prognosis

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-170711

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 461-469, 2018