Abstract
Ninety-four human non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) of previously untreated patients were analysed for the presence of P-glycoprotein (P-170) and glutathione S-transferase-pi (GST-pi) by means of immunohistochemistry. The expression of P-170 and GST-pi was compared with the results of doxorubicin resistance of the tumours in vitro and the smoking habits of the patients. A significant relationship between smoking habits of the patients and resistance of NSCLC was found (P = 0.007). Of the 72 tumours of smokers 57 (= 79%) were resistant, whereas of the 22 tumours of non-smokers only 11 (= 50%) showed resistance. Identical results were obtained when the analysis was restricted to patients with epidermoid lung carcinomas (P = 0.004). In contrast to these data, there exists no relationship between resistance and smoking for adenocarcinomas of the lung. Forty-two (= 58%) out of the 72 NSCLC of smokers expressed P-170, whereas out of 22 tumours of non-smokers only two tumours (= 9%) showed P-170 expression (P less than 0.0001). Similar results were obtained with epidermoid carcinomas (P = 0.004) and adenocarcinomas (P = 0.027). Fifty (= 69%) of 72 NSCLC of smokers revealed expression of GST-pi, whereas only nine (= 41%) of 22 tumours of non-smokers showed GST-pi expression (P = 0.015). Significant correlations also exist between resistance in vitro and expression of P-170 (P less than 0.0001) or expression of GST-pi (P less than 0.0001). Furthermore, a significant relationship between both proteins could be demonstrated (P less than 0.0001).
Highlights
In an earlier study with 160 human lung tumours (Volm et al, 1990a) we demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between smoking and response to doxorubicin in vitro
94 human non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) of previously untreated patients were analysed for the presence of P-glycoprotein (P-170) and glutathione S-transferase-i (GST-i ) by means of immunohistochemistry
We found a significant relationship between smoking habits of the patients with NSCLC and resistance in vitro (P = 0.007) (Table V)
Summary
In an earlier study with 160 human lung tumours (Volm et al, 1990a) we demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between smoking and response to doxorubicin in vitro. Until now the mechanisms for the resistance of lung tumours are unknown. We have analysed non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) of previously untreated patients for the presence of P-170 and GST-i by immunohistochemistry, a method which we have found useful for detection of P-170 in the past with different human tumours (Volm et al, 1988a; Schneider et al, 1989; Bak et al, 1990). The current paper include 94 NSCLC of the earlier study (Volm et al, 1990a) because alcohol-fixed samples used for immunostaining were only collected in the second part of the study
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