Abstract
hMLH1 and hMSH2 genes are both known to play a role in DNA mismatch repair. Nonetheless, the clinical significance of hMLH1 and hMSH2 protein expression in lung cancers remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of hMLH1 and hMSH2 proteins in tumor specimens from 179 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients using a tissue microarray technique and to correlate these results with other clinicopathological variables, including the disease specific and overall survivals. hMLH1 and hMSH2 protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies G168-728 for hMLH1 and FE11 for hMSH2 protein expression analysis. The Pearson chi2 test was used to compare the hMLH1 and hMSH2 alterations among the cases and between various clinical and laboratory variables. P < or = 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Alteration of hMLH1 and hMSH2 protein expression was observed in 10 % of patients. No significant correlation was found between the protein expression and patient age, smoking status, tumor histology or disease stage and disease free and overall survival. Alterations in the expression of hMLH1 and hMSH2 proteins did not have any prognostic value in stage III. NSCLC patients.
Highlights
Lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death in many industrialized countries
Between three and five tissue cores (2 mm in diameter, 3–4 mm in height) taken from a donor tumor block were placed into a recipient paraffin block with a manual tissue microarrayer (Beecher Instruments, Sun Prairie, WI)
A core of normal tissue was punched from each case in parallel
Summary
Lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death in many industrialized countries. Alterations of genes involved in DNA repair, may explain the susceptibility of non-risk populations, for instance, to lung cancer, non-smoking women, hMLH1 and hMSH2 genes are both known to play a role in DNA mismatch repair[1]. Their inactivation by promoter hypermethylation has been reported to be associated with human cancers[5, 7, 12, 15, 24]. Xinarianos et al.[29] have shown that 58.6 %/57.8 % of lung cancer tumor specimens expressed reduced tumor hMLH1/hMSH2 levels, respectively[29]. The clinical significance of hMLH1 and hMSH2 protein expression in lung cancers remains unclear
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
