Predictive value of expression of the CXCR4/Akt signaling pathway in the peripheral blood for brain glioma

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the activation of the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4)/Akt signaling pathway in the peripheral blood of individuals diagnosed with brain glioma and assess its potential as a predictive marker. Methods: A study was carried out on 120 patients diagnosed with brain glioma who were admitted between September 2015 and October 2016 (referred to as the brain glioma group). Additionally, a control group consisting of 100 healthy individuals who underwent physical examinations during the same time frame was included. According to the postoperative follow-up results, the patients with brain glioma were divided into death subgroup (n=30) and survival subgroup (n=85). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to identify the presence of molecules associated with the CXCR4/Akt signaling pathway in the peripheral blood samples. Results: The expressions of the CXCR4/Akt signaling pathway-related molecules differed significantly among tumor World Health Organization (WHO) grades and clinical outcome subgroups (P<0.05). The CXCR4 expression showed a significant correlation with the WHO grade of the tumor, Akt mRNA, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and vimentin (P<0.05). The prognosis was significantly influenced by the elevated levels of CXCR4/Akt, tumor WHO grade, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and vimentin, which acted as autonomous risk factors. The prognostic prediction accuracy of CXCR4/Akt was 90.48% for sensitivity and 94.87% for specificity, with a significant area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.908 (P<0.05). Patients with high levels of CXCR4/Akt signaling pathway-related molecules had a considerably lower 5-year survival rate compared to those with low levels (21.08% vs. 46.37%, P<0.05). Conclusions: The expression of the CXCR4/Akt signaling pathway is significantly up-regulated in the peripheral blood of patients with brain glioma and is closely related to malignant tumor transformation.