Prognostic Impact of AHNAK2 Expression in Patients Treated with Radical Cystectomy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Unfavorable results following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer (BCa) highlights a critical need for a novel prognostic molecular biomarker with potential therapeutic benefits. In the present study, the expression levels of AHNAK2 in specimens obtained by radical cystectomy were classified as “low expression” or “high expression” by immunohistochemical staining. Then, we retrospectively evaluated associations between the two AHNAK2 expression patterns and the prognoses in terms of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Our multivariate analysis, adjusting for the effects of clinicopathological features, showed that the high expression level of AHNAK2 was an independent risk factor for RFS and CSS. The present study showed that AHNAK2 acts as a novel prognostic biomarker in patients with radical cystectomy for BCa. ABSTRACT: Data regarding expression levels of AHNAK2 in bladder cancer (BCa) have been very scarce. We retrospectively reviewed clinical data including clinicopathological features in 120 patients who underwent radical cystectomy (RC) for BCa. The expression levels of AHNAK2 in the specimens obtained by RC were classified as low expression (LE) or high expression (HE) by immunohistochemical staining. Statistical analyses were performed to compare associations between the two AHNAK2 expression patterns and the prognoses in terms of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). A Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients with HE had a significantly worse RFS and CSS than those with LE (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–2.98, p = 0.027 and HR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.08–3.38, p = 0.023, respectively). In a multivariate analysis, independent risk factors for worse RFS and CSS were shown as HE (HR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.08–3.53, p = 0.026 and HR: 2.22, 95% CI: 1.14–4.31, p = 0.019, respectively) and lymph node metastasis (HR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.09–3.84, p = 0.026 and HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.25–4.97, p = 0.009, respectively). The present study showed that AHNAK2 acts as a novel prognostic biomarker in patients with RC for BCa.