Glutathione peroxidase 4 expression predicts poor overall survival in patients with resected lung adenocarcinoma

This study aimed to evaluate the protein expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The clinical relevance and prognostic significance of GPX4 expression were analyzed. We reviewed patients with resected NSCLCs at Taipei Veterans General Hospital between September 2002 and January 2018. Available paraffin-embedded specimens were retrieved for immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining to detect GPX4 expression. The cutoff value for defining GPX4 positivity was determined according to the percentage of tumor stained in the microscopic field. The correlation between immune expression, clinicopathologic data, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed. A total of 265 NSCLC specimens were retrieved for IHC staining. GPX4 expression positive was in 192 (72.5%) according to a cutoff value of 5%. GPX4 was a significant prognostic factor for OS and DFS on multivariate analysis at both 5% and 25% cutoff values. GPX4 expression was associated with poor OS and DFS, especially in lung adenocarcinoma (p = 0.008, and 0.027, respectively). In conclusions, IHC analysis revealed that GPX4 expression was associated with poor survival outcomes in patients with resected lung adenocarcinoma. Further research is needed to understand the role of GPX4 in tumorigenesis and the underlying mechanism responsible for survival outcomes in patients with resected lung adenocarcinoma.