Background: Frat proteins are positive regulator of Wnt-signal transduction.By binding to GSK3,Frat prevents the phosphorylation and concomitant degradation of beta-catenin and allows the activation of downstream targetgenes by beta-catenin/TCF complexes. The aim of this study is to investigate the protein expression of Frat and beta-catenin and their clinicopathological correlations in lung cancer.
Methods: By means of tissue chip technique and immunohistochemical method, 52 cases of lung carcinoma were examed to detect the expression of Frat and beta-catenin.
Results: The positive expression rate of Frat was 75% . The positive expression rate of Frat in well,moderately and poorly differentiated NSCLCs were 41.67%(5/12), 83.33%(15/18) and 88.24%(15/17). There was a significant difference in Frat expression among well,moderately and poorly differentiated NSCLCs (Chi-Square=9.229, P=0.01). The abnormal cell expression rate of beta-catenin was 71.15%. The abnormal cell expression rate of beta-catenin in well,moderately and poorly differentiated NSCLCs were 41.67%(5/12), 61.11%(11/18) and 100%(17/17). There was a significant difference (Chi-Square=12.601, P=0.002).
Conclusions: The abnormal cell expression of beta-catenin is associated with pooly differentiated NSCLCs. The expression of Frat is positively correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation and the abnormal cell expression of beta-catenin.