Partner of Sld five 3: a potential prognostic biomarker for colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Partner of Sld five 3 (PSF3) is a member of the evolutionarily conserved heterotetrameric complex “Go-Ichi-Ni-San” (GINS), which consists of SLD5, PSF1, PSF2, and PSF3. Previous studies have suggested that some GINS complex members are upregulated in cancer, but the status of PSF3 expression in colorectal cancer has not been investigated. METHODS: We investigated the status of PSF3 expression in 137 consecutive resected colorectal caners by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to assess independent prognostic factors for overall survival in colorectal cancer. RESULTS: In 137 restected colorectal cancer samples, median messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of PSF3 were significantly higher in tumor tissues (1.35 × 10(−3), range 2.88 × 10(−4) to 3.16 × 10(−2)) than in adjacent normal tissues (2.94 × 10(−4), range 5.48 × 10(−5) to 1.27 × 10(−3)) (P < 0.05). Moreover, high expression of PSF3 in tumor tissues was associated with shorter disease-free survival and overall survival. When analyzed with a Cox regression model, the PSF3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival. In addition, in patients with early stage (stage I and II) colorectal cancer, the overall survival rate of the high PSF3 expression group was significantly lower than that of the low PSF3 expression group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The PSF3 expression plays an important role in the progression of colorectal cancer and acts as a factor significantly affecting the prognosis of patients. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/13000_2014_217