title: [Expression of CD44v3 and its prognostic value in non-small cell lung cancer].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To study the expression of CD44v3 and its prognostic value in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  
  
  METHODS
  CD44v3 expression was detected in 52 NSCLC tissues and 12 normal pulmonary tissues by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (SP method).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The positive expression rate of CD44v3 in NSCLC was 57.7% (SP method) and 71.2% (RT-PCR), respectively. The positive rate of CD44v3 in squamous cell carcinoma was significantly higher than that in adenocarcinoma (P < 0.01). Higher expression of CD44v3 was demonstrated in poor differentiation compared with moderate and well differentiation (P < 0.05). The expression of CD44v3 was much higher in patients with lymph node metastasis than that in those without lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). The expression rate of CD44v3 was remarkably higher in stage III than that in stage I-II. Multi-variate Logistic analysis showed the expression of CD44v3 and p-TNM stage were significantly prognostic factors (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overexpression of CD44v3 is very common in lung cancer tissues. Detection of CD44v3 expression may be helpful to predict the prognosis of lung cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Xinqiao Hospital, The Third Military University, Chongqing 400037, P.R.China.
authors.forename: Qiuping
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yaoguang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jiaxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Shizhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luo