Frontiers in Pharmacology (Sep 2022)

High expression of phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase predicts a poor prognosis in human colorectal cancer

  • Guanyu Yu,
  • Mengnan Xu,
  • Leqi Zhou,
  • Kuo Zheng,
  • Xiaoming Zhu,
  • Jinke Sui,
  • Cheng Xin,
  • Wenjun Chang,
  • Wei Zhang,
  • Fuao Cao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.989999
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Background: Phosphorylated Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) has been reported to be intimately involved in various malignant tumors. The effect of p-FAK on colorectal cancer (CRC) is still disputable. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of p-FAK in the prognosis of colorectal cancer.Methods: The clinical significance of p-FAK expression in CRC was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in a large cohort, including carcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues from 908 patients, and normal tissues, adenoma, and metastasis tissues. The correlation between p-FAK expression and CRC occurrence was investigated in tumor and other tissues. Factors contributing to prognosis were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression model.Results: p-FAK is apparently overexpressed in CRC and metastasis tissues. Compared with low p-FAK expression, patients with high p-FAK expression had shorter overall survival [hazard ratio (HR), 2.200; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.265–3.452; p < 0.01] and disease-free survival (HR, 2.004; 95% CI 1.262–3.382; p < 0.01) in multivariate Cox analysis after adjusting other prognostic factors. High p-FAK expression was also related to a worse chemotherapeutic response in patients who achieved adjuvant chemotherapy (p < 0.01).Conclusion: Expression level of p-FAK is an independent risk factor and can serve as a prognostic biomarker for CRC. High p-FAK expression predicts an unfavorable prognosis of CRC as well as poor chemotherapeutic response.

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