Clinicopathological relevance of NFκB1/p50 nuclear immunoreactivity and its relationship with the inflammatory environment of uveal melanoma

Abstract

Purpose To analyze the activation of NFκB1/p50 in the inflammatory and non-inflammatory environment of uveal melanoma and its association with clinicopathological factors and patient outcome. Methods Activation of NFκB1/p50 was evaluated in 75 cases of uveal melanoma by immunohistochemistry. mRNA expression in 58 fresh UM specimen was measured by quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR). Western blotting was performed to validate the immunohistochemistry results in representative cases. Results Forty-five cases showed both cytoplasmic and nuclear immunoreactivity of NFκB1/p50. Increased level of NFκB1/p50 activation was more frequent in the inflammatory environment group as compared to non-inflammatory environment group at both transcriptional and translational level. In multivariate analysis, infiltrating macrophages and nuclear immunoreactivity of NFκB1/p50 (p < .05) in tumor cells were found to be an independent prognostic factor for poor survival. Conclusion Our results suggest that nuclear immunoreactivity NFκB1/p50 may serve as a useful marker in assessing the prognosis of uveal melanoma patients.