Background and objective: AKT2 is a critical actor in the PI3K signal transduction pathway. Activation of AKT2 can lead to cell growth and survival. It has been revealed that AKT2 play a central role in tumorigenesis, tumor growth as well as metastasis. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between AKT2 and the clinical outcome of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients by detecting its expression levels in the tumor tissue samples.
Methods: We developed an immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay to measure AKT2 protein levels in lung specimens from 80 cases with NSCLC and 10 cases with benign pulmonary disease.
Results: The positive rate of AKT2 was 57.50% (46/80) in NSCLC, which was higher than that in benign pulmonary (10.0%) samples (Chi-square=8.038, P=0.006). There was no significant correlation between AKT2 expression and the clinicopathologic profiles. The expression of AKT2 was significantly correlated with the progression free survival (PFS) (Chi-square=12.671, P=0.005) and the overall survival (OS) (Chi-square=9.851, P=0.021) of patients with NSCLC.
Conclusion: AKT2 may provide a prognostic bio-marker of NSCLC.
背景与目的: AKT2是PI3K信号传导通路中重要因子，AKT2激活导致细胞生长和生存，近年来，许多研究表明AKT2在肿瘤形成、生长及转移中起着重要作用。本研究通过检测肿瘤组织中AKT2的表达水平，旨在研究AKT2在非小细胞肺癌（non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC）中的表达及其与临床预后的关系。
方法: 通过免疫组化方法检测80例NSCLC及10例肺良性病变的组织标本中AKT2蛋白水平。
结果: NSCLC中AKT2表达的阳性率为57.50%（46/80），明显高于肺良性病变组织（1/10, 10.0%）中的表达，具有统计学差异（χ2=8.038, P=0.006）。AKT2表达与NSCLC患者临床病理特征无明显关系。AKT2表达与患者无进展生存期（χ2=12.671, P=0.005）及总生存期（χ2=9.851, P=0.021）有明显关系。
结论: NSCLC中AKT2是患者预后不良的生物学标志。