Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is associated with poor prognosis in urinary bladder carcinoma.

objectiveOverexpression of the enhancer of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) protein, an intracellular tyrosine kinase protein, has been reported to be associated with biological malignancy of gastric cancer and several other tumors. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of FAK and analyze its correlation with the clinicopathological features of human urinary bladder carcinoma.

methods315 archived cases of urinary bladder carcinoma were reviewed and TMAs were developed as per established procedures. Immunohistochemical staining for FAK was performed to assess the correlation between the expression profiles and the clinicopathological parameters and clinical outcome.

resultsProtein level of FAK was up-regulated in urinary bladder carcinoma compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. Overexpression of FAK was significantly associated with high histologic grade, angiolymphatic invasion, lymph node metastasis, myometrial invasion and cervical involvement (P < 0.05). Further multivariate analysis suggested that expression of FAK was independent prognostic indicator for urinary bladder carcinoma. These alterations in expression were also associated with greater risk of disease progression and decreased chance of carcinoma-specific survival. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrates that overexpression of FAK was significantly associated with decreased overall survival.

conclusionOverexpression of FAK corelates with well established pathologic risk factors and may predict more aggressive biologic behavior in urinary bladder carcinoma. The expression patterns of FAK correlated well with the pathologic stage, disease progression, and carcinoma-specific survival. This finding may aid in identifying more biologically aggressive carcinomas and thus patients who could benefit from more intensive adjuvant therapy.