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. 2025 Aug 12;25(1):580.
doi: 10.1186/s12876-025-04153-x.

Overexpression of Protein Kinase C iota as a prognostic marker and its role in oxaliplatin resistance in colorectal cancer

Xuankai Liao  1 , Mengyuan Liu  2 , Chunli Hong  2 , Yuyan Liu  2 , Qing Li  2 , Ying Chen  3 , Tingzhen Zhang #  4 , Hongda Chen #  5 , Shuying Fu #  6
Affiliations

Overexpression of Protein Kinase C iota as a prognostic marker and its role in oxaliplatin resistance in colorectal cancer

Xuankai Liao et al. BMC Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Background: Protein Kinase C iota (PKCι) has been implicated in cancer progression and chemoresistance, but its prognostic significance in solid tumors remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the expression of PKCι in tumor tissues and its association with clinicopathological features, survival outcomes, and chemotherapy response in patients with cancer.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with confirmed cancer diagnoses. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to assess PKCι expression levels in tumor tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and univariate Cox analysis were applied to evaluate the impact of PKCι expression and other clinicopathological variables on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). The association between PKCι expression and chemotherapy resistance, particularly oxaliplatin resistance, was also investigated.

Results: PKCι overexpression was possibly correlated with advanced clinical stage, metastasis, organs involvement, vascular invasion, and perineural invasion. Patients with PKCι overexpression was possibly correlated with oxaliplatin resistance(P = 0.014). Besides, Patients with PKCι overexpression exhibited significantly shorter PFS compared to those with low expression levels (P = 0.0006). Univariate Cox analysis confirmed that metastasis (H.R. = 11.910, P = 0.018) and clinical staging (H.R. = 5.498, P = 0.027) were independent prognostic factors for OS, whereas CEA levels (H.R. = 3.497, P = 0.005) was independent predictors of PFS.

Conclusion: PKCι overexpression is associated with tumor aggressiveness and chemotherapy resistance, indicating its potential as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in cancer preliminarily.

Keywords: Cancer prognosis; Metastasis; Overall survival; Oxaliplatin resistance; PKCι; Progression-free survival; Vascular invasion.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The clinical data for this study were obtained with the approval of the Ethical Committee of The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (approval number KY-2024-368-01) and was conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was not required for this study, as it was a retrospective analysis of clinical data with no ethical concerns related to human biological samples. The need for informed consent was waived by the Ethical Committee of The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. All procedures were performed in compliance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PKCι immunohistochemical expression patterns in colorectal cancer specimens. Representative images showing A − C intermediate ×20 and D − F high magnification ×40 views of: A,D weak, B,E moderate, and C, F strong staining intensities
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Overall survival (OS) of all patients with M stage (a), presence or absence of vascular invasion (b), presence or absence of neural invasion (c), and clinical stage (d)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Overall survival (OS) of all patients with involvement of surrounding organs (a), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels (b), effectiveness of oxaliplatin treatment (c), and PKCι expression (d)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Progression-free survival (PFS) of all patients with M stage (a), N stage (b), presence or absence of vascular invasion (c), presence or absence of nerve invasion (d), and clinical staging (e)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Progression-free survival (PFS) of all patients with immune status (a), presence or absence of surrounding organ involvement (b), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels (c), effectiveness of oxaliplatin treatment (d), and PKCι expression (e)
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