The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between the protein expression of A-kinase anchor protein 95 (AKAP95), cyclin D3 and AKT with pathological indicators in lung cancer tissues. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the protein expression levels of the proteins in 51 lung cancer tissue samples and 15 pericarcinoma tissue samples. The percentage of cyclin D3 positive samples in the lung cancer and pericarcinoma tissues was 68.63 and 28.57%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). However, cyclin D3 expression was not shown to correlate with differentiation grade, histological type or lymph node metastasis. In addition, the percentage of AKT positive samples in the cancer and pericarcinoma tissues was 76.47 and 38.46%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). AKT expression was found to significantly correlate with the grade of cancer tissue differentiation (P<0.05); however, no correlations were observed with histological type or lymph node metastasis (P>0.05). AKAP95 expression was shown to correlate with cyclin D3 and AKT expression in the lung cancer tissue (P<0.05); however, there was no correlation between cyclin D3 and AKT expression. The present study provided evidence suggesting that AKAP95 may have a role in regulation of the cell cycle.
Keywords: A-kinase anchor protein 95; AKT; biomarkers; cyclin D3; diagnosis; lung cancer; pathology.