Background
Chromosome 9 open reading frame 86 (C9orf86) is a novel subfamily of GTPases. Previous studies have implicated C9orf86 as a potential oncogene.
Conclusions
Positive expression of C9orf86 is an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients, and C9orf86 may serve as a prognostic biomarker for patients with NSCLC.
Methods
C9orf86 expression was detected in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cell lines by RT-PCR and western blotting. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect 180 consecutive NSCLC specimens and 16 normal lung tissues. The correlation between C9orf86 expression and clinicopathological parameters was evaluated. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox hazards ratio models were used to estimate the effect of C9orf86 expression on survival.
Results
C9orf86 was expressed in the cytoplasm in 74 of 180 (41.11%) NSCLC specimens. In clinical pathology analysis, C9orf86 expression significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and clinical stage significantly (P<0.05). Multivariable analysis confirmed that C9orf86 expression increased the risk of death after adjusting for other clinicopathological factors (P<0.01). Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were significantly prolonged in the C9orf86 negative group compared to the C9orf86 positive group (P<0.001). Adjuvant chemotherapy prolonged OS and DFS in resected NSCLC patients with C9orf86 negative expression (P<0.001) but not C9orf86 positive. Conclusions: Positive expression of C9orf86 is an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients, and C9orf86 may serve as a prognostic biomarker for patients with NSCLC.