RESEARCH ARTICLE Prognostic implications of r

worldwide, with over one million cases diagnosed each ment of lung cancer, prognosis is still poor, with 10–15% Jin et al. BMC Cancer 2014, 14:191 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/14/191phosphorylation, it assumes an active form, in which its N-Medical College, Yanji 133002, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleyear [1]. Approximately 85 % of lung cancers are non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [2]. Molecular target therapy is one of the promising field of NSCLC treatment, and its tar-get includes EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), EML4-ALK (echinoderm microtubule associated protein like4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase). EGFR TKI (gefitinib and erlotinib) and EML4/ALK inhibitor (Crizotinib) have 5-year survival rates. More than 90 % of deaths from NSCLC are attributable to metastases [5]. The cytoskeletal organizer ezrin was first identified as an important metastatic regulator in rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma [6,7]. Ezrin is a member of the ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) family and acts as a cross-linker between the plasma membrane and the actin cytoskeleton [8]. In its inactive form, ezrin is located in the cytoplasm and its C-terminal domain, an F-actin-binding site, is masked by the N-terminal domain of ezrin or other ERM family member proteins. Once ezrin is activated by threonine and tyrosin