PAK4 expression is associated with the prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

This study attempted to determine the expression of p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and the normal lung tissues. The correlation between PAK4 expression and prognosis of NSCLC patients was also evaluated in the present study. The expression level of PAK4 was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography method. Chi-square test was adopted to explore the relationship of PAK4 expression and clinical features. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted to delineate the overall survival rate of NSCLC patients. Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate the prognostic significance of PAK4 expression in NSCLC. The PAK4 expression in NSCLC tissue samples was significantly higher than that in normal lung tissues (P<0.001) and shared significant correlation with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score, histological type, and distant metastasis (P<0.05). Survival curve revealed that NSCLC patients with high PAK4 expression had relatively higher mortality than those with low PAK4 expression (P = .001). Cox regression analysis explained that PAK4 expression was associated with the prognosis of NSCLC patients (P = .024; HR, 3.104; 95% CI, 1.164-8.278). In a word, PAK4 was highly expressed in NSCLC tissues and could act as a prognostic factor for NSCLC patients.