BPTF biomarker correlates with poor survival in human NSCLC.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to identify the clinical significance of BPTF expression in the development and progression of NSCLC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of BPTF in 189 pairs of NSCLC and adjacent normal lung tissues were detected by Real-time PCR. The expression of BPTF was investigated in NSCLC and normal control tissues by immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence staining. Then, we analyzed the potential relationship between BPTF levels in tumor tissues and existing clinicopathological features of NSCLC, and clinical outcome. RESULTS: It was found that BPTF mRNA was significantly overexpressed in NSCLC tissues in comparison with paired normal control tissues (p < 0.01). Consistent with BPTF mRNA expression, up-expression of BPTF protein was also found in NSCLC tissues. Furthermore, BPTF expression was positively correlated with advanced lymph node metastasis (p = 0.002), clinical stage (p = 0.004), and differentiation (p = 0.014). Moreover, patients with high BPTF expression had significantly poorer survival by Kaplan-Meier method (p < 0.001). Finally, Cox regression analyses showed that high BPTF expression might be an independent prognostic parameter to predict poor prognosis (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: BPTF is important in predicting patient outcomes and is a potential target for the development of therapeutic approaches to NSCLC.