<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>KAI1 is a new identified
metastasis-
suppressor gene whose expression in many types of
tumors has been reported. The aim of study is to investigate the
role of
KAI1 protein in development of
lung cancer and its values in predicting the
prognosis of
lung cancer.</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>The expressions of
KAI1 protein were detected in benign
pulmonary disease tissue, precancerous
disease tissue,
lung cancer tissue and metastatic
lung cancer tissue in local
lymph node using
tissue microarray and immunohistochemical
method. The relationship between expression of
KAI1 protein and clinicopathological
parameters of
patients with
lung cancer was analyzed by
Chi-Square test and Fisher exact test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rate of KAI1 expression was 100.0% in 10 cases of benign
pulmonary diseases, 66.7% in 12 cases of precancerous
diseases, 24.7% in 89 cases of primary
lung cancer and 0 in metastatic
lung cancer tissue in local
lymph node respectively. The
KAI1 protein expression in primary
lung cancer tissues had no remarkable relationship with age and
gender of the
patients and the
location of
cancer, but had significant relationship with the histological type and differentiated degree of
tumor, P-TNM stages and
lymph node metastatic status.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The abnormal expression of
KAI1 protein may participate in malignant progression of
lung cancer. Its
downregulation may promote the invasion and
metastasis of
tumor cell.
Detection of the expression of
KAI1 protein may be helpful to predict the
prognosis of
lung cancer.</p>