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CK7/CK19 index: A potential prognostic factor for postoperative intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients
Author(s) -
Liu LongZi,
Yang LiuXiao,
Zheng BoHao,
Dong PingPing,
Liu XinYang,
Wang ZhiChao,
Zhou Jian,
Fan Jia,
Wang XiaoYing,
Gao Qiang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.25027
Subject(s) - medicine , nomogram , cytokeratin , proportional hazards model , intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma , cohort , oncology , tissue microarray , retrospective cohort study , keratin 7 , pathology , immunohistochemistry , survival analysis
Background and Objectives Frequently aberrant expression of cytokeratin 7 (CK7) and cytokeratin 19 (CK19) have been observed in several human cancers. In this retrospective study, we aimed at investigating the prognostic significance of CK7 and CK19 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Methods Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess CK7 and CK19 expression on tissue microarrays in training cohort enrolling 214 ICC patients and validation cohort comprising 108 ICC patients. Kaplan‐Meier analysis, Cox's proportional hazards regression, and nomogram were applied to evaluate the prognostic significance of both CKs. Results Both CK7 and CK19 expression were significantly up‐regulated in ICC compared to their non‐tumor counterparts, and positively correlated with aggressive tumor phenotypes, like lymph node metastasis and larger tumor size. Furthermore, high expression of either CK7 or CK19 predicted a significantly dismal postoperative survival. Integrated analysis of CK7 and CK19 expression was identified as a better indicator for survival probability. Notably, the nomogram integrating CK7/CK19 index had a perfect prognostic performance as compared with current staging systems. The results were further confirmed in the validation cohort. Conclusions CK7/CK19 index was an independent adverse prognostic factor for ICC patients’ survival, and may be helpful to improve postoperative risk stratification and individualized treatment strategies.