Prognostic value of blood GRHL2 in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer after radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

We aimed to investigate the predictive value of the Grainyhead-like 2 (GRHL2) expression from circulating blood for recurrence, metastasis and overall death on patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We collected blood samples from 122 patients who were admitted to our hospital for NSCLC. Multivariable Cox proportional-hazards analysis in adjusted Model II showed that compared with GRHL2-negative expression, positive expression in patients with NSCLC was associated with increased death risk (HR = 7.0, 95% CI: 2.1-20.9,  = 0.03) and risk for composite end point (HR = 8.2, 95% CI: 4.0-27.1, <0.01). This study supported that elevated circulating GRHL2 expression might be considered as a candidate prognostic biomarker for poor prognosis among these NSCLC patients.