Lewis Y antigen expression and postoperative survival in non-small cell lung cancer.
BACKGROUND
In contrast to other Lewis blood group-related antigens, Lewis Y antigen (LeY) has not been fully investigated in non-small cell lung cancer.


METHODS
To assess the significance of LeY expression, 236 patients with completely resected pathologic stage 1-3a were reviewed with immunohistochemical analysis.


RESULTS
LeY expression was positive in 179 patients (75.8%). In poorly differentiated cancer, percentage of LeY-positive patients was lower than in moderately to well-differentiated cancer (67.2% versus 81.2%, p = 0.028). Five-year survival rate of LeY-positive patients was 78.2%, significantly higher than that of LeY-negative patients (59.7%, p = 0.001). Combined with p53 status, differences in survival proved to be marked; 5-year survival rate of patients with positive LeY expression and without aberrant p53 expression, was as high as 83.3%, whereas that of patients with negative LeY expression and with aberrant p53 expression was only 38.4% (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed that LeY expression was a significant independent factor to predict better survival.


CONCLUSIONS
LeY expression is a significant prognostic factor related to grade of cancer differentiation.
Tanaka
F
F
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Chest Disease Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan.
Miyahara
R
R
Ohtake
Y
Y
Yanagihara
K
K
Fukuse
T
T
Hitomi
S
S
Wada
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis
D015415:Biomarkers; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens; C094162:Lewis Y antigen; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53