Recently, kinesin motor proteins have been focused on as targets for cancer therapy. Kinesins are microtubule-based motor proteins that mediate diverse functions within the cell, including the transport of vesicles, organelles, chromosomes and protein complexes, as well as the movement of microtubules. In the current study, the expression of kinesin family member 18A (KIF18A), a member of kinesin superfamily, was investigated in breast cancer using immunohistochemistry, and its effect on breast cancer prognosis was examined. KIF18A expression level was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.047). In patients with high levels of KIF18A expression, survival was significantly poorer compared to patients with low levels of KIF18A expression (disease-free survival, P=0.030). Multivariate analysis revealed that venous invasion (hazard ratio, 9.22; 95% confidence interval, 3.90-23.66; P<0.001) and KIF18A expression (hazard ratio, 3.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.34-6.09; P=0.010) were independent predictive factors for lymph node metastasis. KIF18A may be a useful predictive marker for lymph node metastasis in breast cancer, which could facilitate curative adjuvant treatment.
Keywords: biomarker; breast cancer; kinesin family member 18A.