title: p16 protein expression is associated with a poor prognosis in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.
abstract: An immunohistochemical analysis for p16 protein was performed in 171 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Sixty-two carcinomas (36.3%) were classified as p16-negative. p16-negative tumours in squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) were significantly more than those in adenocarcinomas (P = 0.039). There was no significant difference in survival according to tumour p16 status in patients with NSCLCs or in patients with adenocarcinomas. In contrast, of patients with SCCs, the 5-year survival rate of patients with p16-negative tumours was significantly lower than those with p16-positive tumours (P = 0.001). Especially, the survival of patients with p16-negative tumours was significantly worse than that of patients with p16-positive tumours in the early stage of the SCC, e.g. stage I (P = 0.005). Multivariate analysis showed that p16 status and nodal status were significant prognostic factors for the survival of patients with SCCs of the lung (P = 0.024 and P = 0.008 respectively). In conclusion, our study showed that alteration of p16 was one of the significant factors of a poor prognosis in SCCs of the lung, and that p16 might play an important role in some SCCs of the lung due to its high prevalence and prognostic value.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Kitaku, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: C I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashiyama
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kohno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyake
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16