Background: The prognostic role of the translational factor, elongation factor-1 alpha 1 (EEF1A1), in colon cancer is unclear.
Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the expression of EEF1A in tissues obtained from patients with stage II and III colon cancer and analyze its association with patient prognosis.
Methods: A total of 281 patients with colon cancer who underwent curative resection were analyzed according to EEF1A1 expression.
Results: The five-year overall survival in the high-EEF1A1 group was 87.7%, whereas it was 65.6% in the low-EEF1A1 expression group (hazard ratio (HR) 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.38-4.44, p = 0.002). The five-year disease-free survival of patients with high EEF1A1 expression was 82.5%, which was longer than the rate of 55.4% observed for patients with low EEF1A1 expression (HR 2.94, 95% CI 1.72-5.04, p < 0.001). Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that age, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level, adjuvant treatment, total number of metastatic lymph nodes, and EEF1A1 expression level were significant prognostic factors for death. In multivariate analysis, expression of EEF1A1 was an independent prognostic factor associated with death (HR 3.01, 95% CI 1.636-5.543, p < 0.001). EEF1A1 expression was also an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival in multivariate analysis (HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.459-4.434, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that high expression of EEF1A1 has a favorable prognostic effect on patients with colon adenocarcinoma.
Keywords: cancer biomarker; colon adenocarcinoma; elongation factor-1 alpha 1; prognosis; translation factor.