Activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway correlates with prognosis in stage II colon cancer.

K. Malinowsky, U. Nitsche, K. P. Janssen, F. G. Bader, C. Späth, E. Drecoll, G. Keller, H. Höfler, J. Slotta-Huspenina, K. F. Becker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

88 Scopus citations

Abstract

Patients with UICC/AJCC stage II colon cancer have a high 5-year overall survival rate after surgery. Nevertheless, a significant subgroup of patients develops tumour recurrence. Currently, there are no clinically established biomarkers available to identify this patient group. We applied reverse-phase protein arrays (RPPA) for phosphatidylinositide-3-kinase pathway activation mapping to stratify patients according to their risk of tumour recurrence after surgery. Full-length proteins were extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples of 118 patients who underwent curative resection. RPPA technology was used to analyse expression and/or phosphorylation levels of six major factors of the phosphatidylinositide-3-kinase pathway. Oncogenic mutations of KRAS and BRAF, and DNA microsatellite status, currently discussed as prognostic markers, were analysed in parallel. Expression of phospho-AKT (HR=3.52; P=0.032), S6RP (HR=6.3; P=0.044), and phospho-4E-BP1 (HR=4.12; P=0.011) were prognostic factors for disease-free survival. None of the molecular genetic alterations were significantly associated with prognosis. Our data indicate that activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway evidenced on the protein level might be a valuable prognostic marker to stratify patients for their risk of tumour recurrence. Beside adjuvant chemotherapy targeting of upregulated PI3K/AKT signalling may be an attractive strategy for treatment of high-risk patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2081-2089
Number of pages9
JournalBritish Journal of Cancer
Volume110
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Apr 2014

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