CDC25C Protein Expression Correlates with Tumor Differentiation and Clinical Outcomes in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Given that, even after multimodal therapy, early-stage lung cancer (LC) often recurs, novel prognostic markers to help guide therapy are highly desired. The mRNA levels of cell division cycle 25C (CDC25C), a phosphatase that regulates G2/M cell cycle transition in malignant cells, correlate with poor clinical outcomes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, whether CDC25C protein detected by immunohistochemistry can serve as a prognostic marker in LUAD is yet unknown. We stained an LC tissue array and a cohort of 61 LUAD tissue sections for CDC25C and searched for correlations between CDC25C staining score and the pathological characteristics of the tumors and the patients' clinical outcomes. Clinical data were retrieved from our prospectively maintained departmental database. We found that high expression of CDC25C was predominant among poorly differentiated LUAD (p < 0.001) and in LUAD > 1cm (p < 0.05). Further, high expression of CDC25C was associated with reduced disease-free survival (p = 0.03, median follow-up of 39 months) and with a trend for reduced overall survival (p = 0.08). Therefore, high expression of CDC25C protein in LUAD is associated with aggressive histological features and with poor outcomes. Larger studies are required to further validate CDC25C as a prognostic marker in LUAD.