Expression of NF-κB p65 phosphorylated at serine-536 in rectal cancer with or without preoperative radiotherapy

BACKGROUND: In the present study, we investigated NF-κB p65 phosphorylated at Serine-536 (phosphor-Ser536-p65) in rectal cancer and its relationship to preoperative radiotherapy (RT), clinicopathological variables and biological factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Expression of phosphor-Ser536-p65 was examined by using immunohistochemistry in 141 primary rectal cancers, 149 normal mucosa specimens and 48 metastases in the lymph nodes, from rectal cancer patients who participated in a Swedish clinical trial of preoperative RT. RESULTS: The expression of phosphor-Ser536-p65 in the cytoplasm increased from normal mucosa to primary tumour (p<0.0001, for both the group that did and the group that did not received RT). The expression did not further increase from primary tumour to metastasis in either group (p>0.05). Expression of phosphor-Ser536-p65 was positively related to, or tended to be related to, the expression of tumour endothelium marker 1 (TEM1, p=0.02), FXYD-3 (p=0.001), phosphatase of regenerating liver (PRL, p=0.02), p73 (p=0.048) and meningioma associated protein (MAC30, p=0.05) in the group that received RT but there were no such relationships in the group that did not received RT (p>0.05). The expression of phosphor-Ser536-p65 was not related to clinicopathological factors including survival (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The increased expression of phosphor-Ser536-p65 may be involved in rectal cancer development. After RT, phosphor-Ser536-p65 seems to be positively related to the biological factors, which associated with more malignant features of tumours. However, phosphor-Ser536-p65 was not directly related to the response of RT based on recurrence and survival.