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Prognostic significance of PAK family kinases in acute myeloid leukemia

Cancer Gene Therapy volumeĀ 27,Ā pages 30ā€“37 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal and heterogeneous disease characterized by a myriad of genetic defects. Genetic abnormalities are powerful prognostic factors. P21-activated kinases (PAKs) are a kind of serine/threonine protein kinases, which is regulator of plenty of oncogenic signaling pathways. The clinical and prognostic value of PAKs in AML is unclear. A total of 155 AML patients with PAK expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas database were enrolled in this study. Eighty-four patients underwent chemotherapy only, 71 also underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). In the chemotherapy-only group, high PAK3 and PAK7 expression were both bound up with poor EFS and OS (all Pā€‰<ā€‰0.05). However, high PAK2 expressers had better EFS and OS (all Pā€‰<ā€‰0.05). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that high PAK7 expression was an adverse independent prognostic factor in patients who received chemotherapy only. PAKs have no influence in EFS and OS in patients who underwent allo-HSCT. In conclusion, high PAK2 expression is a favorable prognostic factor, as to the high expression of PAK3 and PAK7, they are poor prognostic factors, and PAK7 has better prognostic value, but their prognostic effects can be offset by allo-HSCT.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81500118 and 61501519), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (2016M600443), and Jiangsu Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (1701184B).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Liang Quan, Zhiheng Cheng

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510260, China

    Liang QuanĀ &Ā Lin Fu

  2. Translational Medicine Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510260, China

    Liang QuanĀ &Ā Lin Fu

  3. Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Zhiheng Cheng

  4. Immunoendocrinology, Division of Medical Biology, Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Yifeng Dai

  5. Life Sciences Institute and Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Yang Jiao

  6. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China

    Jinlong Shi

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Correspondence to Lin Fu.

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Quan, L., Cheng, Z., Dai, Y. et al. Prognostic significance of PAK family kinases in acute myeloid leukemia. Cancer Gene Ther 27, 30ā€“37 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-019-0090-1

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