GOLPH3, a Good Prognostic Indicator in Early-stage NSCLC Related to Tumor Angiogenesis

Background: Golgi phosphoprotein-3 (GOLPH3) is implicated in cancer development and progression. Theaim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of GOLPH3 protein and its association with tumorangiogenesis in patients with early-stage NSCLC. Materials and
Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performedto determine GOLPH3 protein expression and allow assessment of intratumoral microvessel density (MVD) bycounting CD-34 positive immunostained endothelial cells. Correlations of expression with MVD, clinicopathologicfeatures and clinical prognosis were analyzed.
Results: A notably higher level of GOLPH3 expression was foundin early-stage NSCC tissues at the protein level. However, we do not find any correlation between GOLPH3expression and clinicopathologic features (p>0.05), although higher MVD was positively associated with GOLPH3overexpression (p<0.001). Expression of GOLPH3 was found to be an independent prognostic factor in earlystageNSCLC patients, those expressing high levels of GOLPH3 exhibiting a substantially lower 5-year overallsurvival than GOLPH3-negative patients (adjusted HR =1.899, 95% CI: 1.021-3.532, p=0.043).
Conclusions:High expression of the GOLPH3 protein is common in early-stage NSCC, and is closely associated with tumorprogression, increased tumor angiogenesis, and poor survival. We conclude a possibility of its use as a diagnosticand prognostic marker in early-stage NSCC patients.