ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and growth variables of tumors are important in the assessment of prognosis in lung cancer. The expression of PCNA, c-erbB-2 (HER-2/neu), and c-fos oncoprotein and their prognostic implications in surgically resected patients with non-small cell lung cancer were evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy patients with non-small cell lung cancer were included and PCNA, c-erbB-2 and c-fos overexpression were evaluated by immunohistochemical stain using paraffin-embedded tissue. RESULTS: The mean proportion of PCNA positive cells was 18.6%, and there was no significant difference according to cell type and stage. The median survival time was significantly shorter in the group with high PCNA expression (>10%) as compared with the group with low PCNA expression (<10%) (37 months vs 16 months). Four (6.3%) of 64 cases demonstrated c-erbB-2 positivity. These were all adenocarcinoma cases. c-fos protein was only rarely overexpressed (1/51). CONCLUSION: PCNA expression was shown to be a useful prognostic parameter in resected non-small cell lung cancer while c-erbB-2 and c-fos oncoprotein were infrequently expressed.