Expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in patients with cervical cancer is associated with disease outcome

Aims: The pp125 Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) plays a pivotal role in tumor cell-signaling (1,2), but data on cervical cancer are inconclusive. Our goal was to characterize the expression of FAK protein in 162 patients with invasive cervical cancer and correlate these findings with clinicopathologic parameters and patient survival. Methods: In this retrospective study FAK expression was examined by means of immunohistochemistry with sections from 162 resected cervical cancer specimens. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to determine the significance of FAK expression in the prognosis of cervical cancer patient…