Expression of deltaNp73 predicts poor prognosis in lung cancer.
OBJECTIVE
DeltaNp73 is an isoform of the p53 homologue p73, which lacks an NH(2)-terminal transactivation domain and antagonizes the induction of gene expression by p53/p73. The aim of this study was to detect DeltaNp73 expression in lung cancer and to evaluate the relationship between the DeltaNp73 expression level and the prognosis of patients with resected lung cancer.


METHODS
We used immunohistochemistry to analyze the protein expression of DeltaNp73 in paraffin-embedded tumor samples from 132 well-characterized lung cancer patients and compared the expression level of DeltaNp73, clinical variables, and survival outcome.


RESULTS
Positive expression of DeltaNp73 was detected mainly in the cytoplasm of tumor cells in 77 of 132 patients (58.3%) with lung cancer. The incidence of positive expression of DeltaNp73 was 52.2, 50.0, and 70.2% in patients with stage I, II, and III, respectively (P = 0.04). Positive expression of DeltaNp73 was associated with gender but not associated with age, histologic type, pathological stage, pathological T status, and pathological N status. Lung cancer patients with positive DeltaNp73 expression had a poorer prognosis than those with negative DeltaNp73 expression. In addition, multivariate analysis of the clinicopathological characteristics of lung cancer indicated that positive expression of DeltaNp73 was a significant independent factor for predicting poor prognosis (P < 0.0001, risk ratio = 3.39).


CONCLUSIONS
Expression of DeltaNp73 may be a useful marker for predicting poor prognosis of patients who underwent resection of lung cancer.
Uramoto
Hidetaka
H
Second Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan. hidetaka@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp
Sugio
Kenji
K
Oyama
Tsunehiro
T
Nakata
Shoji
S
Ono
Kenji
K
Morita
Masaru
M
Funa
Keiko
K
Yasumoto
Kosei
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011379:Prognosis; D012737:Sex Factors; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins