ABSTRACT
Lung cancer is considered the major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Unfortunately, all chemotherapy regimens used in lung cancer treatment showed nearly the same efficacy. Finding a new therapeutic target that can be used as an alternative after the failure of or in association with chemotherapy to improve the prognosis is an urgent demand. Up to date, it is Known that thyroid hormones (THs) and Thyroid hormone receptors (THRs) control the progression of several types of tumours. Nevertheless, their role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unknown. This study investigated the expression of THRα1 in NSCLC cases and its correlation to tumour clinicopathological parameters to shed new light on the relevance of THRα1 in lung cancer. Immunohistochemistry utilizing THRα1 antibody was performed on tissue sections obtained from 80 patients diagnosed with NSCLC. We also investigated the expression of THRα gene in Microarrays of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) patients by using GEO data sets on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov . We showed, for the first time, the expression of THRα1 in NSCLC. Intermediate and high THRα1 expressions were detected in (25% and 66.7%) of SCC cases respectively. High THRα1 expression was associated with shorter OS. On the other hand, 86.7% of AC cases revealed low THRα1 expression. Inflammatory cells in SCC cases showed high THRα1 expression. By analysing GEO data sets, a significant increase in THRα gene expression was found in SCC compared to AC cases. Our study underscores the possibility of using THRα1 expression not only as a prognostic marker, but also as an innovative diagnostic additive tool for lung SCC, which could be tested as a potential therapeutic target for SCC in the future.
Subject(s)
Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/diagnosis , Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis , Thyroid Hormone Receptors alpha/metabolism , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/metabolism , Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/pathology , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology , Female , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/metabolism , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Male , Middle Aged , Multivariate Analysis , Prognosis , Proportional Hazards Models , Survival AnalysisABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Two major acute-phase proteins were identified in human, C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A. There are 3 types of C-reactive protein assays: conventional C-reactive protein, high sensitivity C-reactive protein and cardiac C-reactive protein. High sensitivity C-reactive protein assays can detect minor inflammatory changes that could be missed by other indices of inflammation. Induced sputum cell counts are relatively non-invasive, safe and reliable method for identifying the presence and type of airway inflammation in asthmatic patients. PURPOSE OF THE WORK: This study was designed to detect the role of serum levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein in asthmatic patients with or without inhaled corticosteroids treatment. Also to determine the relationship of serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein levels to clinical indices of asthma and inflammatory cell counts in induced sputum. SUBJECTS & METHODS: Serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein level, pulmonary function tests, body mass index and induced sputum cell counts were estimated in 50 asthmatic patients (26 steroid inhaled and 24 steroid naïve). Fifteen healthy volunteers, who matched in age and sex with the other groups, were used as a control group. RESULTS: There was an increase of high sensitivity C-reactive protein in asthmatic patients among both steroid inhaled and steroid naïve patients compared to the healthy controls. Serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein correlated negatively with pulmonary function tests and positively with sputum eosinophil % in both inhaled steroid and steroid naïve groups. CONCLUSION: High sensitivity C-reactive protein is one of the markers of systemic inflammation that can be indirectly reflecting the degree of severity of airway inflammation in bronchial asthma.
