Objective: To study the expression and clinical significance of AKT2, phosphorylated AKT2 (p-AKT2) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: The tumor tissues were obtained from 137 cases of NSCLC, the expressions of AKT2 and p-AKT2 in the tissues were measured by immunohistochemistry. The statistic analysis was carried on to study the correlation of AKT2, p-AKT2 expression to the type of lung cancer, TNM stage, pathological grading. Survival analysis was also studied.
Results: The positive rates of AKT2 in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma were 60.5% and 54.1% respectively (P > 0.05). While the positive rates of p-AKT2 in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma were 68.4% and 47.5% (P < 0.05). The expressions of AKT2 and p-AKT2 were not correlated with age, gender, TNM stage and cell differentiation degree. Further more, survival analysis revealed that 5-year survival rate and median survival time for the patients with positive expression of p-AKT2 were significantly poorer than those with negative expression (20% vs 56%, (28.464 +/- 2.235) months vs (39.214 +/- 3.075) months, P < 0.053, while there were no significant differences with regard to AKT2 expression.
Conclusion: The positive expression of p-AKT2 in lung adenocarcinoma was higher than that in lung squamous carcinomas. p-AKT2 may be a prognostic factor for non-small cell lung cancer.