High expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells in Chinese primary non-small cell lung cancer tissues.
OBJECTIVE
Nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) has been reported to be involved in the development of various types of cancer including adenocarcinoma of the breast. This research was the first to investigate NFAT protein expression in primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues from Chinese patients.


METHODS
NFAT protein expression was determined in 130 surgically resected primary NSCLC and matched normal tissues by immunohistochemical analysis. The association between NFAT expression and clinical categorical variables was further analyzed with the SPSS software.


RESULTS
We found that NFAT expression was much higher in 85 tumor tissues (65.4%) and lower in 45 tumor tissues (34.6%) compared with the matched normal tissues. Further statistical analysis by the chi-square test showed that high expression of NFAT proteins was significantly associated with tumor differentiation (p=0.045), invasion (p=0.031), histology (p<0.0001), tumor size (p=0.038) and cigarette smoking history (p=0.024). However, there was no correlation between the expression of NFAT proteins and pTNM classification, and no difference in 5-year survival rate between patients with high or low expression of NFAT proteins. Multivariate logistic regression analysis for the correlation between NFAT protein expression levels and various characteristics showed a significant association with histology (p=0.008, OR=0.273).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results revealed that high NFAT expression was present in Chinese NSCLCs and that NFAT expression might be involved in the process of human lung cancer development.
Zhang
K
K
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Li
N
N
Chen
Z
Z
Shao
K
K
Zhou
F
F
Zhang
C
C
Mu
X
X
Wan
J
J
Li
B
B
Feng
X
X
Shi
S
S
Xiong
M-
M
Cao
K
K
Wang
X
X
Huang
C
C
He
J
J
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D050778:NFATC Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012907:Smoking / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017741:Survivors
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D050778:NFATC Transcription Factors