mTOR and PTEN expression in non-small cell lung cancer: analysis by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry

• Published in: Surgery today (Tokyo, Japan) Vol. 42; no. 5; pp. 419 - 425
• Main Authors: Wang, Liang, Yue, Wentao, Zhang, Lina, Zhao, Xiaoting, Wang, Yue, Xu, Shaofa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Springer Japan 01.05.2012
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma - metabolism; Adenocarcinoma - mortality; Adenocarcinoma - pathology; Adenocarcinoma - secondary; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - metabolism; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - mortality; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - pathology; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - secondary; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - mortality; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - secondary; Disease-Free Survival; Female; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Lung Neoplasms - metabolism; Lung Neoplasms - mortality; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Lymphatic Metastasis; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Original Article; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; PTEN Phosphohydrolase - metabolism; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Surgery; Surgical Oncology; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases - metabolism; mTOR; PTEN; Prognosis; Non-small cell lung cancer
• ISSN: 0941-1291; 1436-2813
• DOI: 10.1007/s00595-011-0028-1

Purpose To detect the expression of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and PTEN in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and explore their role in the prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Methods Samples of cancer tissues and normal lung tissues from 78 patients with NSCLC were examined for expression of mTOR and PTEN by real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. The differences in mTOR and PTEN expression were compared by Student’s t test. A Cox regression model was used to analyze the relationship between the influencing factors and the prognosis. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and the log-rank test were used to analyze the progression-free survival. Results The mTOR expression in NSCLC tissues was significantly higher than that in normal lung tissue, while the levels of PTEN expression in NSCLC tissue were significantly lower than that in normal lung tissues ( P  < 0.05). No significant correlations were observed between the mTOR and PTEN expressions and the patients’ age, sex, pathological type, differentiation, lymph node metastasis, or distant metastasis. The only correlation was with the T stage. The Cox regression analysis showed that mTOR and PTEN expression had an important impact on the patient prognosis. Conclusions The absence of and/or a low expression of PTEN and activated mTOR may play an important role in the development of NSCLC, and may represent new prognostic biomarkers for a poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC.