title: Decreased tumstatin-mRNA is associated with poor outcome in patients with NSCLC.
abstract: Tumstatin is a candidate tumor suppressor that plays an important role in tumor growth and angiogenesis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between tumstatin-mRNA expression and the clinicopathologic characteristics, tumor angiogenesis, outcome of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Specimens from 68 patients with NSCLC were recruited in this study. Tumstatin-mRNA expression and protein level in tumor tissues were quantified respectively by quantitative RT-PCR and ELISA. Microvessel density (MVD) was determined by CD34 immunostaining. The correlation of tumstatin-mRNA expression levels with clinicopathologic variables, tumor angiogenesis, and prognosis was analyzed. Tumstatin-mRNA expression levels were decreased in tumor. Tumstatin-mRNA expression level was significantly correlated with its protein level in tumor (r = 0.562; P = 0.001). Tumstatin-mRNA expression levels in poorly differentiated tumor tissues were significantly lower than in well-differentiated tumor tissues (P < 0.004). Furthermore, tumor tumstatin-mRNA expression were also significantly related to tumor pathologic stage (P = 0.032) and MVD (r = -0.77, P < 0.0001). Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) analysis indicated that NSCLC patients with low tumstatin-mRNA expression had poorer OS and DFS than those with high expression (P = 0.015 and 0.037; respectively). Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that the tumstatin-mRNA expression could be an independent prognostic indicators in both DFS and OS. Tumstatin-mRNA expression levels are down-regulated in NSCLC tissues. Tumstatin-mRNA expression level correlates with prognosis, which suggests that tumstatin-mRNA is a new potential independent marker of favorable prognosis in NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of laboratory medicine, The Affiliated Anhui Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People's Republic of China. luoyiqin2004@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Yi-Qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Shuang-Zheng
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D024141:Collagen Type IV / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D055806:Microvessels / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens; D024141:Collagen Type IV; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C057112:type IV collagen alpha3 chain