AUTHOR=Cheng Hao , Zhou Linxiang , Long Yalan , Xiang Juanjuan , Chen Longhua 

TITLE=MACC1 Is Associated With Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition and Can Predict Poor Prognosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2021.644120

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2021.644120

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Background: Given the reported correlation between the oncogene metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 (MACC1) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), as well as between MACC1 and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), we speculated that EMT is a likely causative link between MACC1 expression and poor NPC prognosis. Thus, we aim to clarify the relationship between MACC1 and EMT in NPC prognosis. 
Material and Methods: We performed immunohistochemical examination of tissue sections from 128 NPC patients that were divided into six groups corresponding to high and low protein expression of MACC1 and two EMT-related proteins, vimentin and E-cadherin, and Kaplan–Meier (KM) survival analyses were performed. 
Results: KM survival analysis showed that upregulation of MACC1 and vimentin and downregulation of E-cadherin were significantly associated with reduced survival in NPC. MACC1 overexpression was significantly correlated with poor 5-year overall survival, metastasis-free survival, and disease-free survival (P<0.05) but not with poor relapse-free survival (P>0.05). Univariate analyses revealed that MACC1, E-cadherin, and vimentin levels along with T and N tumor classifications and cancer staging are significant prognostic factors of NPC (P<0.05). 
Conclusion: Our findings showed the association between MACC1 and EMT in NPC malignancy and support the role of MACC1 as a prognostic biomarker and molecular target for NPC treatment.