Identification Of Genetic Fingerprint Involving Lymphatic Metastasis Of Tumor Stroma In Human Primary Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Obsjective: To screen and identify the specific genetic group ofmicroscopic stroma associated with lymphatic metastasis of humannon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Method: Primary NSCLC tissues were obtained from20patients whounderwent radical resection. According to the source of stroma, the caseswere classified into two groups: stroma of primary tumor with lymph nodemetastasis (STxN+,n=10), stroma of primary tumor without lymph nodemetastasis (STxN-, n=10). Total RNA was extracted from lasermicrodissected tumor stroma samples. Adequate RNA starting material wasgenerated using a T7RNA polymerase-catalyzed linear amplificationmethod. Then microarray hybridization and image scan were performed.After scanning, data analysis was performed using GeneSpringTM6.2software. By immunohistochemical method，comparative analysis of theprotein expression level of lumican genes between STxN+and STxNgroups was conducted. Results: There were only3genes that were significantly overexpressedin STxN+. On the other hand, there were29genes that were significantlysuppressed in STxN+. The expression of Lumican protein in STxN-groupwas significantly higher than that in STxN+group（p＜0.05). Compared toSTxN+, STxN-had higher levels of genes concerned with nucleic acidbinding, enzyme metabolism, immunity protein, structure protein,transporter as well as oncogene.Conclusion: Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions are one of criticaldeterminants of tumor cell behavior. Silencing of genes in the stroma mightbe a major mechanism of tumor progression.