title: Expression of thymidylate synthase in human non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kyoto University Hospital.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otake
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanagihara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hitomi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukushima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D005468:Fluorodeoxyuridylate; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase