Blood MALT1 expression levels reflect the lymph node stage and disease‑free survival in patients with non‑small cell lung cancer&nbsp;

Zhang,Fengyi; Zhang,Xinping; Wen,Bing; Peng,Xiaoqin

doi:10.3892/ol.2025.15127

Blood MALT1 expression levels reflect the lymph node stage and disease‑free survival in patients with non‑small cell lung cancer

Authors:
- Fengyi Zhang
- Xinping Zhang
- Bing Wen
- Xiaoqin Peng
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Affiliations: Department of Thoracic Surgery, North Sichuan Medical University, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000, P.R. China, Department of Oncology, North Sichuan Medical University, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000, P.R. China
Published online on: June 3, 2025 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2025.15127
Article Number: 381
Copyright: © Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Mucosa‑associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein‑1 (MALT1) promotes cancer development via both cancer cell‑intrinsic and ‑extrinsic mechanisms, and can regulate cancer immunity and immune escape. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the expression levels of MALT1 in blood samples and the association with clinical features, treatment options and survival outcomes in patients with non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a total of 125 patients with resectable NSCLC prior to treatment (neoadjuvant therapy or surgery) were collected. The mRNA expression levels of MALT1 were detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR. Furthermore, the PBMC samples from 20 healthy individuals served as the control group. The results showed that MALT1 was upregulated in the blood samples of patients with NSCLC compared with the control group (~3.4:1 fold; P<0.001). Subsequently, for correlation analysis, blood MALT1 expression levels in patients with NSCLC were categorized into four grades according to the quartiles (Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4). It was indicated that the MALT1 quartile was positively correlated with the tumor‑node‑metastasis (P=0.036) and N stage (P=0.026), and it had a tendency to be correlated with poor differentiation (P=0.091) and T stage (P=0.058), but this did not reach statistical significance. However, the MALT1 quartile was not associated with neoadjuvant therapy, surgical type or adjuvant therapy. Kaplan‑Meier curves demonstrated that the MALT1 quartile was notably associated with shorter disease‑free survival (DFS; P=0.009); however, the MALT1 quartile only showed a tendency to be associated with poor overall survival, but this did not reach statistical significance (P=0.118). Subsequent multivariate Cox analysis showed that the MALT1 quartile could independently predict shorter DFS (P=0.016). In conclusion, the present study suggested that blood MALT1 expression levels could potentially predict the stage of lymph node metastasis and DFS in patients with NSCLC.

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