[Expression of surviving gene and its relationship with expression of P53, c-myc, k-ras proteins in non-small-cell lung cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of surviving and its relationship with expression of P53, c-myc, k-ras in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS: Expression of the surviving mRNA was evaluated by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 76 NSCLC tumor samples, 20 benign phymatoid lesion and 21 adjacent normal lung tissue samples. Immunohistochemical assay was to detect the expression of P53, c-myc, k-ras proteins.

RESULTS: Expression of surviving gene was detected in a significantly greater proportion of NSCLC (61%) than phymatoid lesion (30%) and adjacent normal lung tissue (19%) (P < 0.001). There was no relationship between surviving gene expression and histologic subtype, differentiation, TNM stages, or lymph node metastases. The expression of surviving gene correlated with P53 or c-myc expression, but not k-ras expression.

CONCLUSION: (1) The up-regulation expression of surviving gene in NSCLC suggested that surviving may play a role in the pathway of carcinogenesis and surviving may be identified as a potential therapeutic target in NSCLC. (2) surviving, de-activation of antioncogene P53 and up-regulation of oncogene c-myc might play synergetic roles in the process of carcinogenesis of NSCLC. But surviving and k-ras may be independently involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.