Table 1.

Risk of cancer associated with CF and the role of CFTR in oncogenesis

Organ	Cancer type	Role of CFTR	Ref
Airways	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	Low expression of CFTR is associated with advanced stage, distant metastasis and poor prognosis. Overexpression of CFTR inhibits cell migration and tissue invasion.	[136]
	Non-small cell lung cancer	Loss of CFTR expression is observed in NSCLC cells. Increased methylation of the CFTR gene is associated with poor prognosis in young patients.	[100]
	Non-small cell lung cancer	Reduced CFTR expression is associated with advanced stage and metastasis. CFTR overexpression leads to the suppression of cancer progression in vitro and in vivo.	[101]
	Lung squamous cell carcinoma	Reduced CFTR expression increases metastasis	[137]
	Other types of lung cancer	The F508del mutation plays a protective role in terms of lung cancer risk.	[138]
Intestine	Colorectal cancer	CFTR knockout enhances malignancy in mice, due to activation of the ERK-1/2 pathway and a reduction in epithelial tightness.	[139]
	Colorectal cancer	Loss of CFTR expression leads to tumour development in the mouse gut. Reduced CFTR expression is associated with a poor prognosis for CRC patients.	[104]