Evaluation of the Association Between Androgen Receptor and Aurka and Its Prognostic Value in Gastric Cancer



Fard SS¹ ; Sotoudeh M² ; Yazdanbod M³ ; Ghavamzadeh A¹ ; Malekzadeh R² ; Yaghmaie M¹ ; Mousavi SA¹ ; Ghaffari SH¹ ; Alimoghaddam K¹ Show Affiliations
Source: International Journal of Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Research Published:2019

Abstract

Background: It is well-known that Aurora kinase A (AURKA) shows oncogenic properties in various tumor types including gastric cancer (GC). Moreover, previous studies have demonstrated that AURKA has a specific androgen receptor (AR) binding site in its promoter; thus, it could be regulated by AR. Since it has been shown that AR overexpresses in gastric cancer (GC) as a male-predominant tumor, the goal of this study was to evaluate the association between AR and AURKA and its prognostic value in GC patients. Materials and Methods: We assessed the expression profile of AURKA in 60 fresh GC and adjacent non-tumor tissues and 50 normal gastric specimen by qRT-PCR, and investigated the association of AURKA expression with clinicopathological features. Furthermore, we evaluated possible correlation between AURKA and AR to elucidate a novel prognostic marker using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model. Conclusion: Among GC patients, 65% (39/60) overexpressed AURKA relative to normal gastric tissues. AURKA overexpression was significantly correlated with the AR overexpression in GC patients. Although AURKA expression alone was not remarkably associated with poor outcome, we provided some evidence that combined evaluation of AURKA and AR expression could independently predict survival of GC patients adjusted for other variables (HR=1.7, CI=1.314-3.833 p=0.042). Conclusion: These results indicate that AR and AURKA may crosstalk to promote GC progression. Our findings have clinical importance because they suggest simultaneous assessment of AURKA and AR expression as a novel potential prognostic marker. © 2019, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved.