Autocrine motility factor-receptor gene expression in lung cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Autocrine motility factor (AMF) stimulates cell motility via binding its receptor (AMF-R) and AMF-R is engaged in tumor cell motility and the AMF-R gene expression level may define a more aggressive phenotype. In this study, we investigated the expression of AMF-R in lung cancer cells and revealed its roles in the cell motility of a tumor. We detected AMF-R expression in tissue specimens from patients with non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) and assessed their clinical characteristics.


METHODS
Using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses and phagokinetic assay, we studied the correlation between the level of AMF-R gene expression and cell motility. We quantified the expression of AMF-R in 51 patients with NSCLCs to investigate the relationship between AMF-R expression and clinicopathologic factors and prognosis.


RESULTS
We found that lung cancer cell lines with higher AMF-R gene expression tended to have larger cell motility than those with lower AMF-R gene expression. The AMF-R gene expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, and stage. The overall survival rate for patients with a high level of AMF-R gene expression with tumors was significantly worse than for those individuals whose tumors had low AMF-R expression. Furthermore, AMF-R expression was significantly related to survival by multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
These data indicate that AMF-R may contribute to tumor progression and AMF-R gene expression can serve as a useful prognostic marker in NSCLCs.
Takanami
Iwao
I
Department of Surgery, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Takeuchi
Ken
K
D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007564:Japan; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060285:Receptors, Autocrine Motility Factor; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine; C555000:AMFR protein, human; D060285:Receptors, Autocrine Motility Factor; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases