Expression of the receptor for hyaluronic acid mediated motility (RHAMM) is associated with poor prognosis and metastasis in non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Wang D, Narula N, Azzopardi S, Smith R, Nasar A, Altorki N, Mittal V, Somwar R, Stiles B, Du Y
Journal	Oncotarget
Volume	7
Issue	26
Pagination	39957-39969
Date Published	06/28/2016
ISSN	1949-2553
Keywords	Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Extracellular Matrix Proteins, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Hyaluronan Receptors, Lung Neoplasms
Abstract	The receptor for hyaluronic acid-mediated motility (RHAMM) is upregulated in various cancers, but its role in primary and metastatic non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) remains to be determined. Here, we investigate the clinical relevance of RHAMM expression in NSCLC. RHAMM protein expression correlates with histological differentiation stages and extent of the primary tumor (T stages) in 156 patients with primary NSCLC. Importantly, while focal RHAMM staining pattern is present in 57% of primary NSCLC, intense RHAMM protein expression is present in 96% of metastatic NSCLC cases. In a publicly available database, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), RHAMM mRNA expression is 12- and 10-fold higher in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous lung carcinoma than in matched normal lung tissues, respectively. RHAMM mRNA expression correlates with stages of differentiation and inferior survival in more than 400 cases of lung adenocarcinoma in the Director's Challenge cohort. Of 4 RHAMM splice variants, RHAMMv3 (also known as RHAMMB) is the dominant variant in NSCLC. Moreover, shRNA-mediated knockdown of RHAMM reduced the migratory ability of two lung adenocarcinoma cell lines, H1975 and H3255. Taken together, RHAMM, most likely RHAMMv3 (RHAMMB), can serve as a prognostic factor for lung adenocarcinomas and a potential therapeutic target in NSCLC to inhibit tumor migration.
DOI	10.18632/oncotarget.9554
PubMed ID	27220886
PubMed Central ID	PMC5129984