Fused in sarcoma (FUS) expression may predict survival outcomes of patients with advanced squamous cell cervical carcinoma

Background: There is an increasing number of studies addressing the relationship between Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) expression and cancer, owing to its role in preserving DNA/RNA stability. However, the disparity in FUS/FUS oncogenic vs. tumor-suppressive roles may be attributed to the complex molecular pathways associated with FUS regulation in different cancer types, and its role in cervical carcinogenesis remains largely unexplored. Methods: We determined FUS protein expression in specimens of 61 patients with advanced cervical cancer. Long-term (>10 years) clinical follow-up data for these patients were available, and we determined disease-free, cancer-related and overall survival as related to FUS expression. Results: There were no significant associations between FUS expression and patients’ age, tumor grade, and acute/late toxicity events related to treatment (either radiation alone or chemoradiation). However, multivariate Cox regression analysis for disease-free survival (recurrence), overall survival (death) and cancer-related survival showed that patients with high average FUS expression fared significantly better than their counterparts with low average FUS expression, both in terms of disease-free survival (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.31; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.12 to 0.77; p = 0.01) and cancer-related survival (HR = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.98; p = 0.04). Conclusions: Our study shows that high FUS protein expression in advanced cervical cancer specimens is a potent harbinger of better prognosis, and can as such be used in clinical practice to help characterize patients and, possibly, plan treatment and follow-up strategies.

Fused in sarcoma; Cervical cancer; Prognosis; Long-term follow-up data

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