Studies on clinicopathological features of lung cancer patients with K-ras/p53 gene alterations: comparison between younger and older groups.
In order to define the roles of the K-ras and p53 genes in the development of lung cancer, especially in young adults, we compared the clinicopathological features of the patients between younger (< or = 45 years, n = 47) and older (< 55 years, n = 50) groups. The gene alterations were examined by the polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) method. The K-ras gene alterations were detected only in adenocarcinomas, and the p53 gene alterations in all histologic types of lung cancer. There were no significant differences in the frequency of both K-ras and p53 gene alterations between the younger and older groups (9 vs. 11%, 36 vs. 32%). In the younger group, but not in the older one, the percentage for smokers was significantly higher in the p53 gene alteration-positive group than for the negative group (65 vs. 30%). As to the prognosis, there were no significant differences between the p53 gene alteration-positive and -negative cases in both the younger and older groups as well as in all subjects, while a tendency of poorer prognosis was observed in K-ras gene alteration-positive cases than for the -negative ones with adenocarcinomas. These results suggest that (1) the K-ras and p53 gene alterations would have no special roles in terms of the lung carcinogenesis in young adults; (2) a positive relationship between smoking and p53 gene alteration would exist in young adults with lung cancer, and (3) K-ras gene alteration would become a prognostic factor in lung cancer.
Kashii
T
T
First Department of Internal Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan.
Mizushima
Y
Y
Lima
C E
CE
Noto
H
H
Sato
H
H
Saito
H
H
Kusajima
Y
Y
Kitagawa
M
M
Yamamoto
K
K
Kobayashi
M
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001483:Base Sequence; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D016158:Genes, p53 / Q000235:genetics*; D011905:Genes, ras / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm