Low Wilms’ Tumor Gene Expression in Tumor Tissues Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

We elucidated the relationship between prognosis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and Wilms’ tumor gene (WT1) mRNA expression in tumor tissue. The WT1 mRNA expression levels of the fatal cases were lower as compared with those of the survival cases. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of the high WT1 expression group were longer than of the low expression group. As for squamous cell lung cancer (SQLC), low WT1 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis. Cox analysis revealed that the gene level was a significant prognostic factor in OS and DFS. Low WT1 expression predicted poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC.

Keywords :

• Lung cancer
• Oncogenes
• Tumor suppressors
• Tumor immunology

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The pathologic diagnosis of the patients who underwent lung surgery between May 2002 and March 2004 was primarily based upon the description by the late Satoru Yamamoto, MD. The authors are grateful to Ms. Reiko Hayashi for her linguistic help. This work was supported in part by a Grant-in Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, Culture and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, Japan.