HOXB2 as a novel prognostic indicator for stage I lung adenocarcinomas.
Outcomes of patients with lung adenocarcinomas can be predicted to some extent from the pathologic stage (p-stage). Although all attempts are made to fully remove cancer lesions, still a number of p-stage I patients without metastatic disease at the time of surgery develop recurrences and die of cancer. It is thus very important to identify p-stage I patients who are at risk of recurrence.



Previously, using microdissected samples, we identified metastasis-related genes. Using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis, we investigated the transcriptional levels of the top metastasis-related genes using 96 independent test lung adenocarcinoma samples and investigated their correlations with the prognosis.



We document evidence that p-stage I patients with HOXB2 up-regulation have a worse prognosis than those with HOXB2 down-regulation (p = 0.0065), whereas the HOXB2 status has no prognostic significance for p-stage II-IV patients. Comparing tumors and corresponding normal lung tissue, we confirmed HOXB2 up-regulated lesions to have much higher HOXB2 expression than the corresponding normal tissue. Confirmation with a larger number of samples is needed, with further research to clarify the molecular functions of HOXB2.
Inamura
Kentaro
K
Department of Pathology, The Cancer Institute, The Cancer Institute Hospital, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan.
Togashi
Yuki
Y
Okui
Michiyo
M
Ninomiya
Hironori
H
Hiramatsu
Miyako
M
Satoh
Yukitoshi
Y
Okumura
Sakae
S
Nakagawa
Ken
K
Shimoji
Takashi
T
Noda
Tetsuo
T
Ishikawa
Yuichi
Y
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011379:Prognosis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism