Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether focal adhesion kinase (FAK) overexpression correlates with lymph node metastases and prognosis.
Methods: The protein expression of FAK was investigated in 153 paraffin-embedded tissues by immunohistochemical analysis and then correlated with various clinicopathologic parameters. FAK mRNA level was detected with quantitative RT-PCR in 57 NSCLC frozen tissues and 20 normal matched tissues.
Results: Immunohistochemistry showed FAK overexpression was significantly associated with positive lymph node metastasis and more advanced disease stage of NSCLCs and adenocarcinoma subtype; real-time PCR also indicated a statistically significant correlation between increased FAK mRNA level and the presence of nodal metastases. Moreover, in survival analysis, FAK overexpression was significantly associated with worse overall survival.
Conclusions: FAK overexpression is a promising pathological factor to predict aggressive behavior and prognosis in patients with NSCLC, particularly in the adenocarcinoma subtype.