High expression of Cullin1 indicates poor prognosis for NSCLC patients

BackgroundCullin1 is a scaffold protein of the ubiquitin E3 ligase Skp1/Cullin1/Rbx1/F-box protein complex which ubiquitinates a broad range of proteins participating in biochemical events like cell-cycle progression, signal transduction, and transcription. Cullin1 is involved in the progression of several cancers, such as melanoma, breast cancer, and gastric cancer.MethodsTo investigate the role of Cullin1 in the development of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we examined the expression of Cullin1 in 8-paired fresh NSCLC tissues. We then constructed immunohistochemistry (IHC) on 114 paraffin-embedded slices and evaluated the correlation between Cullin1 expression and clinicopathologic variables, as well as patients’ overall survival.ResultsWe found that Cullin1 was highly expressed in NSCLC tissues and significantly associated with NSCLC's histological differentiation (P = 0.002), clinical stage (P = 0.010) and Ki-67 (P = 0.021). Furthermore, we showed a strong correlation between high Cullin1 expression and worse overall survival rates in NSCLC patients (P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis revealed that Cullin1 expression was an independent prognostic factor to predict 5-year patient outcome in NSCLC cancer (P = 0.033).ConclusionThese data suggested that Cullin1 might promote the progression of NSCLC and be a biotarget for NSCLC's therapy.