title: PDGFR-beta expression in small cell lung cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) and PDGFR-beta are expressed and have been found to have prognostic value in several human cancers. Data in non-small-cell cancer cell lines have suggested that PDGFR is a therapeutic target for drug development. In the current study PDGFR-beta expression and prognostic value in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 53 patients with limited and extensive stage SCLC were obtained for immunohistochemical staining. Tumors from each patient were sampled 3 times and stained with PDGFR-beta specific antibody. Patients were divided into low and high staining groups based on intensity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was high intensity PDGFR-beta staining in 20 patients with SCLC. Another 29 expressed low intensity PDGFR-beta staining, with only 4 patients showing no PDGFR-beta staining. There was no statistically significant difference in 5 year overall survival between patients with low levels of PDGFR-beta staining vs. those with high level staining SCLC tumors (p = 0.538).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study found that the majority of SCLC patients express, at least, a low level of PDGF-beta. However, the level of PDGFR-beta expression was not a statistically significant predictor of 5 year overall survival in SCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Pierre P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Massion
authors.forename: Sandra J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shyr
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Carbone
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Dennis E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Hallahan
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D020797:Receptor, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D020797:Receptor, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor beta