title: Clinical significance and the correlation of expression between Let-7 and K-ras in non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: To detect the expression levels of the lethal-7 (let-7) and K-ras genes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and investigate their significance, the expression of let-7 and K-ras was determined in cancerous tissues and pericancerous normal tissues of 31 NSCLC patients using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Our results using 31 NSCLC patient samples showed that 67.74% had a low let-7 expression (P<0.05), 64.52% had a high K-ras expression (P<0.05), and a significant correlation was observed between let-7 and K-ras gene expression (r=-0.6336) in tumor tissues. Patients with a low let-7 expression had a significantly shorter survival than those with a moderate let-7 expression (P<0.05). Patients with a high K-ras expression also had a significantly shorter survival than those with a moderate K-ras expression (P<0.05). In conclusion, a low expression of let-7 and a high expression of K-ras are correlated with the pathogenesis and prognosis of NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jinshan Branch of the Sixth People's Hospital, Affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 201500, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Wei-Yun
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Ren-Zhong
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Ya-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen