ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) is a highly glycosylated transmembrane protein that is widely present on the surface of various tumor cells, assisting in tumor progression by stimulating the production of several matrix metalloproteinases in adjacent stromal cells. However, its clinical relevance remains to be evaluated in lung cancers. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between EMMPRIN expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. METHODS: EMMPRIN expression was semiquantified by immunohistochemistry with anti-human EMMPRIN monoclonal antibody in 208 surgically resected NSCLCs and was analyzed statistically in relation to various characteristics. RESULTS: EMMPRIN expression was seen in most NSCLC samples (92%). High levels of EMMPRIN expression were significantly associated with differentiation and pT(1) stage in adenocarcinomas. There were no significant differences in overall survival between patients with tumors having high and low levels of EMMPRIN expression in pathological stage I NSCLCs (5-year survival rates, 69 vs. 60%). CONCLUSIONS: EMMPRIN was preferentially expressed in most NSCLCs. High levels of expression were associated with early T stage and well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, and were not a prognostic factor in NSCLC.
Subject(s)
Basigin/biosynthesis , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/metabolism , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/pathology , Lung Neoplasms/metabolism , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Aged , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/surgery , Female , Humans , Immunohistochemistry , Lung Neoplasms/surgery , Male , Middle Aged , PrognosisABSTRACT
An asymptomatic 71-year-old man was admitted for evaluation of a pulmonary tumor. Chest computed tomography revealed a cavitary tumor in the apical segment of the right lung. Histopathological examination of the resected lung revealed pulmonary cryptococcosis within a papillary adenocarcinoma. Macroscopic and histopathological findings speculated that papillary adenocarcinoma preceded pulmonary cryptococcosis.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma, Papillary/complications , Cryptococcosis/complications , Lung Diseases, Fungal/complications , Lung Neoplasms/complications , Adenocarcinoma, Papillary/diagnosis , Adenocarcinoma, Papillary/microbiology , Adenocarcinoma, Papillary/pathology , Aged , Cryptococcosis/diagnosis , Cryptococcosis/pathology , Humans , Lung Diseases, Fungal/diagnosis , Lung Diseases, Fungal/pathology , Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis , Lung Neoplasms/microbiology , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Male , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Pulmonary blastoma is a rare tumour of the lung composed of epithelial and mesenchymal elements that morphologically resemble the embryonal structure of the lung. The authors report a 79-year-old man who was diagnosed with a pulmonary blastoma within bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma. Macroscopic, histopathological and immunohistochemical findings suggested that the pulmonary blastoma was closely associated with the bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar/diagnosis , Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis , Neoplasms, Multiple Primary , Pulmonary Blastoma/diagnosis , Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar/surgery , Aged , Biopsy , Diagnosis, Differential , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/surgery , Male , Pneumonectomy , Pulmonary Blastoma/surgery , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
E1AF/PEA3, an Ets family transcription factor, is frequently overexpressed in non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Overexpression of E1AF increases motility and invasion of VMRC-LCD and NCI-H226 NSCLC cells, which lack endogenous E1AF expression, and the effect is synergistically increased by hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). The small GTPase Rho/Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) pathway is also involved in motility and invasion. To determine the role of the Rho/ROCK pathway in malignant phenotypes induced by E1AF, we analyzed VMRC-LCD cells transfected with an E1AF expression vector (LCD-E1AF cells) or with empty vector (LCD-vector cells). LCD-E1AF cells had more GTP-bound (active) Rho than LCD-vector cells and Rho activation was synergistically increased by HGF. The Rho activation by E1AF and HGF was also shown in NCI-H226 cells. Phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC), a downstream effector of ROCK signaling, was higher in LCD-E1AF cells than in LCD-vector cells, especially under HGF treatment. A specific ROCK inhibitor, Y27632, strongly suppressed MLC phosphorylation, cell motility, and invasion. In nude mice implanted s.c. and intrapulmonarily, LCD-E1AF cells made more local tumors than LCD-vector cells (six of six versus one of seven mice and four of seven versus one of seven mice, respectively). Three of the four mice with lung tumors from LCD-E1AF cells had lymph node metastases whereas the mouse with LCD-vector tumors did not. LCD-E1AF tumors showed higher MLC phosphorylation than LCD-vector tumors. These results suggest that E1AF activates the Rho/ROCK pathway in an HGF-enhanced manner and its activation is important in E1AF-induced motility and invasion as well as tumorigenesis and metastasis in NSCLC cells.
