Preliminary study on the clinical significance of kinesin Kif18a in nonsmall cell lung cancer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of Kif18A in cancerous and paracancerous tissues from 100 patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This was a prospective study of 100 patients with pathologically confirmed NSCLC (adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma [SCC], n = 50/group) that were operated at the Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University between June 2015 and December 2016. Kif18A protein expression in cancerous and paracancerous normal tissues was detected by western blot and immunohistochemistry. The expression of the Kif18A protein was higher in adenocarcinoma and SCC tissues than in the corresponding paracancerous normal tissues. The expression of the Kif18A protein was higher in highly differentiated tumors, in patients with lymph node metastasis (vs no lymph node metastasis), adenocarcinoma, and in stage III NSCLC. There were no associations between Kif18A expression and age, gender, and pathologic type. The expression of the Kif18A protein by immunohistochemistry was higher in NSCLC tissues than in normal tissues, and was associated with tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and TNM staging. These results could provide a theoretical basis for novel molecular targeted therapies against NSCLC.