LRH1 as a promising prognostic biomarker and predictor of metastasis in patients with non‐small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: LRH1, which promotes the malignant transformation of carcinoma, has recently been documented in several types of malignancies. However, LRH1 has not been assessed as a potential clinical biomarker in any cancer. METHODS: LRH1 expression was tested in fresh‐frozen tissue samples with quantitative real‐time PCR and Western blot analysis. Surgically resected tumor tissues were collected from 156 non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients: 75 with adenocarcinoma and 81 with squamous cell carcinoma. Subsequently, the immunohistochemical expression of LRH1 was examined, and its clinical significance was evaluated. RESULTS: LRH1 overexpression was observed in NSCLC carcinoma tissues compared to adjacent normal lung tissues. LRH1 expression was correlated with poorer differentiation (P = 0.023), pathological tumor classification (P < 0.001), advanced pathological tumor node metastasis stage (P = 0.017), adenocarcinoma subtype (P = 0.031), and positive lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that LRH1 expression status was an independent prognostic factor for overall (hazard ratio 1.372, 95% confidence interval 1.225–1.617; P = 0.003) and disease‐free survival (hazard ratio 1.497, 95% confidence interval 1.059–2.115; P = 0.011) in patients who suffered from resectable NSCLC. CONCLUSION: The results of our study indicate that LRH1 predicts NSCLC progression, metastasis, and a dismal prognosis, emphasizing its promising role as a novel target in NSCLC therapies.