STAT3 expression correlates with prognosis of thymic epithelial tumors

BACKGROUND: More and more evidences demonstrate the significance of Signal transducers and activators of transcription 3(STAT3) in oncogenesis and tumor development. However, little systematic researches have been reported on the correlation between STAT3 and thymic epithelial tumor (TET). METHODS: Expression of STAT3 protein in 80 thymic epithelial tumors was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The difference of STAT3 expression was compared by the χ(2) test. Estimation of survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the statistical differences were analyzed using the Log-rank test. RESULTS: Positive expression of STAT3 protein was significantly associated with Masaoka staging and WHO histological classification (P < 0.05), but not with age, gender, or tumor size. The rate of postoperative recurrence/metastasis was 33.33% in STAT3-positive tumors, compared with 4.55% in negative ones (P < 0.05). 5-year survival was significantly lower in STAT3-positive subjects (61.11%) than in negative ones (97.73%) (P < 0.01); In patients in Masaoka stage III or IV and WHO B3 or C, 5-year survival rate of subjects positive in STAT3 (35.00%, 35.00%) was statistically lower than that of the negative ones (92.31%, 91.67%). Cox regression analysis revealed that positive expression of STAT3 protein was an independent prognostic factor of thymic epithelial tumors (HR = 9.325, P = 0.044). CONCLUSION: Positive expression of STAT3 protein increases along with the rising malignant degree of thymic epithelial tumors. It may be considered as an independent prognostic parameter with good prognostic value to evaluate the possibility of recurrence/metastasis in patients with thymic epithelial tumor.