Expression of PACE4 in non-small cell lung cancer and analysis of its clinicopathologic characteristics / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression of paired amino acid cleaving enzyme 4 (PACE4) protein in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), analyze the correlation of its clinicopathologic characteristics, and investigate its significance in the process of occurrence, development, and metastasis of NSCLC.Methods Between January 2006 and May 2009, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, 172 patients with NSCLC and 15 patients with non-neoplastic tissues were chosen.Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of PACE4, and clinicopathologic characteristics of NSCLC were analyzed.Results (1)The positive expression rate of PACE4 protein in NSCLC was significantly higher than that in non-tumor tissues (P ＜ 0.05).PACE4 expression was observed in 111 of 172 (64.5％) NSCLC.PACE4 had cytoplasmic expression.(2)Clinicopathologically, PACE4 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (N stage) (P =0.007), and clinical stage (P =0.024).Conclusions High expression of PACE4 indicates that PACE4 may be involved in the processes of occurrence,development, and metastasis of NSCLC.