The Expression and Prognostic Value of ILK and YAP1 in Glioma

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a widely expressed serine/threonine-protein kinase that has been implicated in cancer development, progression, and metastasis. Yes-associated protein (YAP), as the most important effector of Hippo signaling pathway, which is considered to be a tumor suppressor pathway, acts as an oncogene in a variety of human cancers. The present study aimed to explore the expression of ILK and YAP1, the relationship between them, and the effect of ILK, YAP1 on prognosis in gliomas. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of ILK and YAP1. The χ2 test analyzes the relationship between ILK, YAP1, and pathologic parameters. The Spearman correlation analyzes the relationship between ILK and YAP1. Survival analysis was used to investigate the effect of ILK and YAP1 on prognosis. High expression of ILK was associated with the age above 50 (P=0.003), higher World Health Organization (WHO) grade (P<0.001), recurrence (P<0.001), and Ki-67 expression≥10% (P<0.001). High expression of YAP1 was associated with higher WHO grade (P<0.001), recurrence (P=0.043), and Ki-67 expression ≥10% (P=0.037). In lower grade gliomas, the high expression rate of ILK in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 wild-type was higher than that in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 mutant (P=0.048). The high expression rate of YAP1 in 1p19q non-codeletion was higher than that in 1p19q codeletion (P=0.022). There was a positive correlation between ILK and YAP1 (r=0.344). The patients with high expression of ILK and YAP1 had worse OS and PFS. As an upstream factor of the Hippo signaling pathway, ILK may affect the development and prognosis of gliomas by regulating YAP1.