title: Diagnosis of lymph node micrometastasis at the pN₀ stage of lung adenocarcinoma using a combination of markers.
abstract: This study aimed to detect micrometastatic tumor cells in the lymph nodes of patients with pN0 lung adenocarcinoma using a combination of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) expression and cytokeratin 7 (CK7) expression and to investigate the association of lymph node micrometastasis with the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with lung adenocarcinoma. A total of 54 patients with pN0 lung adenocarcinoma and whose primary tumors were positive for both TTF-1 and CK7 expression were included in this study. In total, 893 lymph nodes were obtained from these 54 patients and were analyzed for micrometastasis by immunohistochemical staining with anti-CK7 and anti-TTF-1 antibodies. CK7- and TTF-1-positive cells were found in the lymph nodes of 9 (16.7%) of 54 patients, and 21 (2.4%) of 893 lymph nodes exhibited positivity for these factors. No cells positive for both CK7 and TTF-1 were detected in the 5 lymph nodes obtained from patients with benign lung tumors. Lymph node micrometastasis was found to be associated with the differentiation grade and primary tumor position (P < 0.05). The detection of lymph node micrometastasis by a combination of CK7 and TTF-1 immunohistochemical staining provides a more accurate assessment of tumor staging for pN0 lung adenocarcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Y-K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: G-M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: K-B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jingdu Hospital, Nanjing, China dongwangcn@yeah.net.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000077192:Adenocarcinoma of Lung; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053552:Keratin-7 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D061206:Neoplasm Micrometastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000074482:Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D053552:Keratin-7; C000614412:NKX2-1 protein, human; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D000074482:Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1; D014157:Transcription Factors