Background: Predictive biomarkers for lung cancer recurrence after curative tumor resection remainunclear. This study set out to assess the role of FoxM1 in the recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer. Methods:Immunohistochemistry for FoxM1 expression was performed on paraffin-embedded tumor tissues from 165NSCLC patients. Association of FoxM1 expression with clinicopathological parameters and disease free survivalwere evaluated. Results: Our results indicated FoxM1 expression to be significantly associated with poorer tissuedifferentiation (P =0.03), higher TNM stage (P <0.01), lymph node metastasis (P <0.01), advanced tumor stage(P <0.01), and poorer disease free survival (P <0.01). Multivariable analysis showed that FoxM1 expressionincreased the hazard of recurrence (hazard ratio= 1.96, 95% CI, 1.04-3.17, P <0.05), indicating that FoxM1is an independent and significant predictor of lung cancer recurrence. Conclusion: Therefore, FoxM1 is anindependent risk factor for recurrence of NSCLC. Elevated FoxM1 expression could be used as an indicator ofpoor disease free survival.
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