Expression of thymidylate synthase in human non-small cell lung cancer.
5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) has been used worldwide, and the correlation between its effects and thymidylate synthase (TS) expression has been reported in gastrointestinal malignancy. But the significance of TS expression for 5-FU-based chemotherapy has rarely been reported in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated surgically resected specimens of 23 consecutive patients with previously untreated NSCLC. We used immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis with anti-TS polyclonal antibody to evaluate the existence of TS, and fluorodeoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate (FdUMP) binding assay to evaluate the enzymic activity of TS. We found that 14 samples (60.9%) were positive immunohistochemically, and that the results of immunohistochemistry closely reflected the enzymic activity measured by FdUMP binding assay (ranging from 1.8 to 56.9 pmol/g protein). These results seem to support our experience that 5-FU and its derivatives are clinically significantly effective as a postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy against NSCLC.
Otake
Y
Y
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kyoto University Hospital.
Tanaka
F
F
Yanagihara
K
K
Hitomi
S
S
Okabe
H
H
Fukushima
M
M
Wada
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005468:Fluorodeoxyuridylate / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011869:Radioligand Assay; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase / Q000378:metabolism*
D005468:Fluorodeoxyuridylate; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase