Expression of Immune System-Related Membrane Receptors CD40, RANK, BAFFR and LTβR is Associated with Clinical Outcome of Operated Non-Small-Cell Lu…

A new interesting article has been published in J Clin Med. 2019 May 24;8(5). pii: E741. doi: 10.3390/jcm8050741. and titled:

Expression of Immune System-Related Membrane Receptors CD40, RANK, BAFFR and LTβR is Associated with Clinical Outcome of Operated Non-Small-Cell Lu…

Authors of this article are:

Dimitrakopoulos FD, Kottorou AE, Antonacopoulou AG, Panagopoulos N, Scopa C, Kalofonou M, Dougenis D, Koutras A, Makatsoris T, Tzelepi V, Kalofonos HP.

A summary of the article is shown below:

An increasing number of studies implicates the NF-κB (Nuclear Factor of kappa light chain gene enhancer in B cells) alternative pathway in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We assessed the clinical significance of CD40 (Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 5, TNFRSF5), BAFFR (B-cell activating factor receptor), RANK (Receptor activator of NF-κB) and LTβR (lymphotoxin β receptor) receptors, which activate the alternative pathway of NF-κB, in NSCLC. Evaluation of CD40, BAFFR, RANK and LTβR expression was performed based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) datasets, while protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in specimens from 119 operated NSCLC patients. CD40 gene overexpression was correlated with improved five-year overall survival (OS) (p < 0.001), while increased BAFFR and LTβR mRNA levels were associated with worse OS in patients with adenocarcinomas (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Similarly, patients with adenocarcinomas exhibited a negative correlation between membranous BAFFR protein expression in carcinoma cells and three- and five-year survival (p = 0.021; HR, 4.977 and p = 0.030; HR, 3.358, respectively) as well as between BAFFR protein overexpression in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and two-year survival (p = 0.036; HR, 1.983). Patients with increased LTβR nuclear protein staining or stage II patients with lower cytoplasmic LTβR protein expression had worse five-year OS (p = 0.039 and p = 0.008, respectively). Moreover, CD40 protein expression in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and CAFs was positively associated with metastatic spread while BAFFR protein expression in CAFs was negatively associated with bone metastasis (p = 0.041). Our data suggests that CD40, BAFFR, RANK and LTβR play an important role in NSCLC and further supports the role of NF-κB alternative pathway in NSCLC.
Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:



This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: BAFFR; CD40; LTβR; NSCLC; RANK; expression; lung cancer; mRNA; prognosis; protein; survival.

Molecular Depot

Your specialty peptide, proteins, antibodies and chemical compounds store.