Expression patterns and clinical significances of PBK in lung cancer: an analysis based on Oncomine database

BACKGROUND: Based on both biological and clinical perspectives, lung cancer is a diverse disease with varied histological subtypes. At present, molecular-targeted drugs have broad application prospects in lung cancer clinical therapy. Here, we explored the expression profile of PDZ-binding kinase (PBK) in lung cancer along with its prognostic potential. METHODS: We employed the Oncomine web resource to explore the differential expression of PBK in LC tissues. Additionally, the prognostic capacity of PBK in lung cancer was explored via the Kaplan-Meier Plotter web resource. RESULTS: Overall, 80 studies documented remarkable differences in the expression of PBK in tumor tissue and healthy control tissue. In all studies, 63 studies showed that PBK was upregulated and 17 studies demonstrated that PBK was downregulated. Of the 80 studies, 63 studies showed an increase in PBK expression in diverse kinds of tumor tissues including the following: bladder cancer, gastric cancer, brain and CNS cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, head and neck cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, lymphoma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, sarcoma and others. In addition, PBK expression was increased in 774 lung cancer tissues (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier Plotter web resource analysis, revealed that PBK levels were negatively linked to the total survival period of individuals with lung cancer (P<0.05). Subgroup evaluations demonstrated that the prognostic significance of PBK was more obvious in individuals with lung adenocarcinoma. In lung cancer categorized by gender, level I-III differentiation, and stage 1 and stage 3 of clinical staging, the survival advantage of the PBK high-expression group was remarkably lower than that of the low-expression group lung cancer patients (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: PBK is an oncogene that is markedly upregulated in lung cancer tissues, and it is correlated with poor prognosis. PBK can be employed as a target in the design of new drugs for lung cancer treatment.