Thymidine phosphorylase affects clinical outcome following surgery and mRNA expression levels of four key enzymes for 5-fluorouracil metabolism in patients with stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer

• Published in: Molecular and clinical oncology Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 640 - 646
• Main Authors: Himuro, Naoya, Niiya, Yumiko, Minakata, Takao, Oshima, Yutaka, Kataoka, Daisuke, Yamamoto, Shigeru, Suzuki, Takashi, Kadokura, Mitsutaka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Spandidos Publications 01.12.2018; Spandidos Publications UK Ltd; D.A. Spandidos
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Antigens; Antineoplastic agents; Cancer treatment; Carcinoma; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Dehydrogenases; Development and progression; Enzymes; Fluorouracil; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Lung cancer; Lymphatic system; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Messenger RNA; Metastasis; Methods; Non-small cell lung cancer; Oncology; Patients; Phosphorylases; RNA; Small cell lung cancer; Squamous cell carcinoma; Studies; Surgery; Tumors; United States > US; Japan; Danenberg tumor profile method; prognostic factor; thymidine phosphorylase; complete resection; non-small-cell lung cancer
• ISSN: 2049-9450; 2049-9469
• DOI: 10.3892/mco.2018.1726

The expression levels of thymidine phosphorylase ( ), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase ( ), thymidylate synthase ( ) and orotate phosphoribosyltransferase ( ) may predict the clinical efficacy of 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy in patients with cancer. We herein investigated the differences in the mRNA levels of these enzymes in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and evaluated their prognostic value for NSCLC treated by surgical resection. The intratumoral mRNA levels of , and were quantified in 66 patients with pathological stage I and II NSCLC (adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma) following complete resection according to the Danenberg Tumor Profile method. The level was the only significant prognostic factor for disease-specific survival (DSS) following complete resection; the mean mRNA level differed significantly between the high and low mRNA expression groups. The DSS at 5 years was significantly higher in the low mRNA compared with that in the high mRNA expression group (83.4 vs. 58.6%, respectively; P=0.005). A Cox proportional hazards model revealed that pathological stage, sex, and expression were independent prognostic factors for DSS in patients with stage I and II NSCLC following complete resection. Thus, level may be used to monitor treatment efficacy and predict the outcome of NSCLC patients.