The Expression Of PTEN Gene As Well As Proliferation Activity And Apoptosis In Non-small Cell Lung Cancer And Their Correlation With Clinicopathological Features And Prognosis

Objective To study the expression of PTEN as well as it relationship with proliferation activity and apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) ,and to evaluate the clinicopathological features and clinical usefulness of the correlation. Methods Apply the immunohistochemistry stain (SABC) method to investigate the expression of PTEN protein and PCNA in archival wax-embedded specimens of 43 NSCLC and 20 normal lung tissues adjacent to lung carcinoma, Cell proliferation activity was evaluated by PCNA mitotic index(MI) and cell apoptosis was examined with TUNEL method.The apoptotic index(AI) and mitotic index(MI) were defined. Results The positive rate of PTEN was significantly lower in patient with NSCLC than that in normal lung tissues adjacent to carcinomas(46.51% versus 95%, P< 0.01). The expression of PTEN had no relationship with clinicopathological factors including age. sex, tumor size, TNM stage, histological type of lung cancer .The positive rate of PTEN was higher in high differentiation group than in low differentiation group ,and in lymph non-metastasis group than in lymph node metastasis group .and in survival group than in dead group. The Apoptotic Index (AI) of cancer cases with PTEN-positive was obviously higher than that with PTEN-negative; The AI of cancer cases was higher than that of normal lung tissues adjacent to lung carcinoma. No relationship was found among AI andclinicopathological factors such as TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and histoclassification of lung carcinoma But AI had correlation with differentiation degree and prognosis of the cancer cases. The MI of cancer cases with PTEN-positive was obviously lower than that with PTEN-negative.The MI of cancer cases was higher than that of normal lung tissues adjacent to lung carcinoma. There was no relationship between MI and clinicopathological factors including differentiation degree, lymph node metastasis and histoclassification of lung carcinoma But MI correlates with TNM stage and prognosis of the cancer cases. CONCLUSION The expression of PTEN protein was low in NSCLC , and it correlates with apoptosis and proliferation ,and it might play a important role in carcinogenesis of lung carcinoma. The expression of PTEN havesignificant correlation with lymph node metastasis , differentiation degree of lung carcinoma and prognosis of the patient, it can be good prognostic indicator for patients with lung carcinoma. AI correlates with differentiation degree and the prognosis of the patients, MI correlates with TNM stage and prognosis of the cancer cases, they also can be good prognostic marker for patients with lungcarcinoma.