Upregulation of Serine/arginine- rich splicing factor 1 is correlated with prostate caner progression and prognosis

Abstract

Objective Serine/arginine- rich splicing factor 1(ASF/SF2, also known as SRSF1)is an oncogenic splicing factor in various malignancies.The aim of this study is to investigate the expression of ASF/SF2,and its clinicalpathological significance in prostate cancer(PCa). Methods Immunohistochmistry was conducted to analyze the expression of ASF/SF2 in 103 PCa samples and 20 benign prostate samples.The associations of ASF/SF2 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis in PCa patients were analyzed by various statistical methods,such as chi- square test, Kaplan- Meier method and Log- rank test. Re-sults The positive rate of ASF/SF2 was 51.0%(52/102)in prostate cancer group, and 20.0%(5/20)in benign group(P< 0.05).In addition, ASF/SF2 expression in PCa tissues was significantly associated with pathological stage(P<0.05).Moreover, Kaplan- Meier survival analysis showed that the higher expression of ASF/SF2 was correlated with shorter biochemical recurrence- free survival(P<0.05).The multivariate analysis revealed that ASF/SF2 was an independent prognostic predictor for biochemical recurrence- free survival in patients with PCa(Hazard ratio= 2.943,P<0.05). Conclusion Our study demonstrates the overexpression of ASF/SF2 is associated with PCa progression,and it may serve as potential therapeutic target.Further study is needed to identify the potential link between ASF/SF2 and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)pathway in PCa. Key words: Prostate cancer; Serine/arginine- rich splicing factor 1; Recurrence