Comparison of the expression levels of molecular markers among the peripheral area and central area of primary tumor and metastatic lymph node tumor in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung (original) (raw)

Abstract

Purpose

Immunohistochemical analysis for the identification of clinically relevant biomarkers is important. However, there have been no detailed reports about the heterogeneous expressions of the various markers in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

Methods

A total of 113 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung with lymph node metastasis were included. The expression levels of 9 molecules (E-cadherin, S100A4, CD44, ALDH1, SOX2, EGFR, HER2, FGFR1 and VEGFR2) in the peripheral area and central area of primary tumor and metastatic lymph nodes were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The differences in the staining scores of these molecules among the three areas were assessed. We also analyzed the relationships between the expression levels of these molecules and the recurrence-free survival.

Results

The E-cadherin expression was higher in the central area than in the peripheral area and metastatic lymph nodes (median staining score: 60 vs. 50, 30); the CD44 expression was higher in the central area than in the metastatic lymph nodes (117 vs. 90); and the EGFR expression was higher in the central area than in the peripheral area and metastatic lymph nodes (163 vs. 130, 110). Low CD44 expression in the central area, low EGFR expression in the peripheral area and high SOX2 expression in the metastatic lymph nodes were associated with a shorter recurrence-free survival (p < 0.01, p = 0.02, p = 0.03, respectively).

Conclusions

Our findings confirmed that some molecular markers exhibited different expression levels in anatomically different areas and suggested that area-by-area immunohistochemical analysis for biomarkers may provide useful information for more precise prediction of the recurrence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yuka Nakamura for her help with the immunohistochemical analyses in this study. This work was supported by the National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund (23-A-12), Foundation for the Promotion of Cancer Research, 3rd Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control, Program for the Promotion of Fundamental Studies in Health Sciences of the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, and JSPS KAKENHI (24659185).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interests to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Pathology Division, Department of Pathology, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8577, Japan
   Hibiki Udagawa, Genichiro Ishii & Atsushi Ochiai
2. Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
   Hibiki Udagawa, Masahiro Morise, Shigeki Umemura, Shingo Matsumoto, Kiyotaka Yoh, Seiji Niho, Hironobu Ohmatsu & Koichi Goto
3. Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan
   Yuichiro Ohe
4. Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
   Masahiro Tsuboi
5. Advanced Clinical Research of Cancer, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
   Hibiki Udagawa & Yuichiro Ohe

Authors

1. Hibiki Udagawa
2. Genichiro Ishii
3. Masahiro Morise
4. Shigeki Umemura
5. Shingo Matsumoto
6. Kiyotaka Yoh
7. Seiji Niho
8. Hironobu Ohmatsu
9. Masahiro Tsuboi
10. Koichi Goto
11. Atsushi Ochiai
12. Yuichiro Ohe

Corresponding author

Correspondence toGenichiro Ishii.

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Udagawa, H., Ishii, G., Morise, M. et al. Comparison of the expression levels of molecular markers among the peripheral area and central area of primary tumor and metastatic lymph node tumor in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 141, 1417–1425 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-015-1912-7

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• Received: 18 November 2014
• Accepted: 05 January 2015
• Published: 09 January 2015
• Issue date: August 2015
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-015-1912-7

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