Long-term survival is linked to serum LDH and partly to tumour LDH-5 in NSCLC.
BACKGROUND
Lactate formation is up-regulated in tumorous cells by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). High serum LDH level is linked to many malignancies with poorer survival, but tumour LDH-5 has not been well investigated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).


METHODS
In 89 patients operated on for NSCLC stage I-III, the serum LDH level was assayed and immunohistochemistry for tumour LDH-5 was performed. Impact on long-term survival and correlation was analysed.


RESULTS
High serum LDH was associated with poorer survival (p<0.001). No correlation was revealed between serum LDH and the tumour LDH-5. Only in tumours greater than 3 cm were high tumour LDH-5 values associated with higher serum LDH values (p=0.04) and in this subgroup, high tumor LDH-5 was associated with poorer long-term survival (p=0.024).


CONCLUSIONS
High serum LDH has a negative impact on long-term survival in NSCLC, whereas for tumour LDH-5, this was seen only in a subgroup of patients with larger tumours.
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. bdanner@med.uni-goettingen.de
Bernhard C
BC
Danner
Vassilios N
VN
Didilis
Stefan
S
Wiemeyer
Tomislav
T
Stojanovic
Julia
J
Kitz
Alexander
A
Emmert
Laszlo
L
Füzesi
Friedrich A
FA
Schöndube
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D000080864:Lactate Dehydrogenase 5; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017741:Survivors
D007527:Isoenzymes; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D000080864:Lactate Dehydrogenase 5