High expression of Talin-1 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Authors: Tie-Bang Kang
Mu-Sheng Zeng
Ying Sun
Xin-Ran Tang
Jun Ma
Xian-Yue Ren
Jian-Yong Shao
Ying-Qin Li
Na Liu
Wei-Hua Jia
Qing-Mei He
Ya-Fei Xu
Journal: BMC Cancer (2015)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: Talin-1; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; prognostic value; metastasis; expression
Affiliations: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. .

Abstract:  Background: Talin-1 is a cytoskeletal protein that plays an important role in tumourgenesis, migration and metastasis in several malignant tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression and prognostic value of Talin-1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: Talin-1 mRNA and protein expression were examined in NPC cell lines and clinical nasopharyngeal tissues by quantitative RT-PCR, agarose gel electrophoresis and western blotting. The expression of Talin-1 was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining in 233 paraffin-embedded NPC specimens with clinical follow-up data and cox regression analysis was used to identify independent prognostic factors. The functional role of Talin-1 in NPC cell lines was evaluated by small interfering RNA-mediated depletion of the protein followed by the wound healing and transwell invasion assays. Results: The expression of Talin-1 was significantly upregulated in most NPC cell lines and clinical tissues at both the mRNA and protein levels. High expression of Talin-1 was significantly associated with distant metastasis (P = 0.001) and patient death (P = 0.001). In addition, high expression of Talin-1 was associated with significantly poorer overall survival (OS: HR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.28-3.63; P = 0.003) and poorer distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS: HR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.38-4.15; P = 0.001). Cox regression analysis indicated that high expression of Talin-1 and TNM stage were independent prognostic indicators (both P &lt; 0.05). Stratified analysis demonstrated that high expression of Talin-1 was associated with significantly poorer survival in patients with advanced stage disease (stage III-IV, HR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.09-3.35; P = 0.02 for OS and HR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.24-3.99; P = 0.006 for DMFS). Furthermore, the depletion of Talin-1 suppressed the migratory and invasive ability of NPC cells in vitro. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that high expression of Talin-1 is associated with significantly poorer OS and poorer DMFS in NPC and depletion of Talin-1 expression inhibited NPC cell migration and invasion. Talin-1 may serve as novel prognostic biomarker in NPC. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 1.  Expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 detected via immunohistochemistry . Two panels appear to be the same.  , 
 Figure 6.  Cell apoptosis detected via TUNNEL .  The Model panel appears in work by other authors. Figure 6 from [Lu Lu (2020)] :  Cell apoptosis detected via TUNEL staining .  , 
 Upper left: Figure 4 from [Lou et al (2019)]  Expressions of related proteins detected via Western blotting Fig 3 (middle left) from [Chen et al (2019)] , and (lower left) Fig 3 from [Xie et al (2020)] . With a little rescaling, pairs and triplets of bands reveal unexpected similarities (right).  , 
 Upper left: Fig 3 from [Lu Lu (2020)] . Middle left: Fig 3 from [Chen et al (2019)] , and Lower left: Fig 3 from [Xie et al (2020)] . Upper right: Figure 3 from [Cai et al (2020)] . A versatile loading band. No authors in common.  ,