He L, et al. - Based on the previous finding that Hook1 inhibits the phosphatase activity of SHP2 in the regulation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer, researchers looked at the expression of SHP2 and Hook1 as well as their links with the prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (n=121) studied in this comprehensive analysis. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that positive expression rates of SHP2 proteins were 58.4% in tumour tissue specimens. Western blot analysis revealed the downregulation of Hook1 and a tendency of SHP2 to overexpress, albeit without statistical significance, in NSCLC tissues vs their levels in normal lung tissues. Patients with low levels of SHP2 expression vs those with high levels of SHP2 expression experienced better median overall survival (OS); 40 vs 24 months. SHP2 expression level was identified as an independent prognostic factor for OS in multivariate analysis. In NSCLC, a possible crucial role of SHP2 as well as its potential as a clinical biomarker was suggested in this study.