Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated that aberrant Kif2a expression is associated with tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis in various human cancers. However, the clinicopathological significance of Kif2a in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is unknown. The aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic significance of Kif2a, alone and in combination with Ki67 protein expression, in LSCC patients.
Methods: We examined the expression status of Kif2a and Ki67 protein in 165 laryngeal tissues (137 primary tumors and 28 cases of matched normal surgical margins) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis using tissue microarrays.
Results: We found that expression correlated with clinical parameters and overall survival (OS). Our results revealed that Kif2a and Ki67 protein expression was significantly higher in cancerous tissues compared to normal surgical margins. High Kif2a protein expression (Kif2a+) was significantly associated with tumor stage (P=0.026) and cervical lymph node metastasis (P=0.034). A significant correlation between Kif2a and Ki67 protein expression was observed (P=0.040). Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with Kif2a+ (hazard ratio [HR] 3.640, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.253-10.570; P=0.018) and high Ki67 (Ki67+) expression (HR 3.086, 95%CI 1.016-9.371; P=0.047) had poor OS.
Conclusion: We speculate that Kif2a and Ki67 can be used as prognostic markers for LSCC patients.
Keywords: Ki67; Kif2a; Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma; Prognosis; Tissue microarrays.
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