Liu Tiancong, Ji Chao, Sun Yang, Bai Weiliang
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
Cancer Manag Res. 2021 May 21;13:4147-4154. doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S305814. eCollection 2021.
Homeobox A9 (HOXA9), a member of the HOX protein family, plays diverse biological roles in embryonic development and carcinogenesis. The prognostic value of HOXA9 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not well-defined. The present study aimed to analyse NPC tissue HOXA9 expression and determine prognostic significance by investigating the relationship between HOXA9 expression and clinicopathologic features.
Between January 2010 and December 2014, 252 NPC patients and 30 chronic nasopharyngitis patients (control group) were recruited to participate in the present study. Correlations between HOXA9 expression level and clinicopathologic features (including survival) were analysed.
High HOXA9 expression was significantly associated with clinical stage ( < 0.01) and higher T stage ( < 0.01). In univariate analysis, high HOXA9 expression predicted overall survival (OS) ( = 0.011). In multivariate analysis, HOXA9 over-expression independently and significantly predicted poorer PFS ( < 0.01, hazard ratio (HR) = 2.387, 95% CI [0.876, 6.545]) and OS ( < 0.01, HR = 2.486, 95% CI [1.041, 8.926]).
High HOXA9 expression is an independent prognostic factor associated with advanced tumour stage and poorer survival in NPC patients.
同源框A9（HOXA9）是HOX蛋白家族的成员之一，在胚胎发育和肿瘤发生过程中发挥多种生物学作用。HOXA9在鼻咽癌（NPC）中的预后价值尚不明确。本研究旨在分析NPC组织中HOXA9的表达情况，并通过研究HOXA9表达与临床病理特征之间的关系来确定其预后意义。
在2010年1月至2014年12月期间，招募了252例NPC患者和30例慢性鼻咽炎患者（对照组）参与本研究。分析HOXA9表达水平与临床病理特征（包括生存率）之间的相关性。
HOXA9高表达与临床分期（<0.01）和更高的T分期（<0.01）显著相关。在单因素分析中，HOXA9高表达可预测总生存期（OS）（=0.011）。在多因素分析中，HOXA9过表达独立且显著地预测了较差的无进展生存期（PFS）（<0.01，风险比（HR）=2.387，95%置信区间[0.876, 6.545]）和总生存期（OS）（<0.01，HR=2.486，95%置信区间[1.041, 8.926]）。
HOXA9高表达是与NPC患者肿瘤晚期和较差生存率相关的独立预后因素。
