title: HOXB2 as a novel prognostic indicator for stage I lung adenocarcinomas.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Cancer Institute, The Cancer Institute Hospital, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inamura
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Togashi
authors.forename: Michiyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okui
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ninomiya
authors.forename: Miyako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: Yukitoshi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Sakae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimoji
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: 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