J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 92(9): 1107-1110, 1991

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Report on the annual meeting

IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVIDENCES OF PROGNOSTIC PARAMETERS ASSOCIATED WITH TUMOR DEVELOPMENT OF PULMONARY ADENOCARCINOMA

We immunohistochemically examined 186 lung adenocarcinomas for the presence of prognostic indicators of local growth of tumor, invasiveness and metastasis. Of the examined tumors, 67% showed a high expression of transforming growth factor α (TGFα) ; 50% for epidermal growth factor (EGF), 45% for EGF receptor (EGFR), and 30% for urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA). In the EGFR-high cases, the 5-year survival rates of patients with high TGFα and low TGFα were 36% and 85%, respectively. In the EGFR-low cases, there was no statistical difference between the two groups. These findings suggested the presence of autocrine growth mechanisms. On the other hand, the high expression of uPA was modulated by TGFα and/or EGF. The 5-year survival rates of patients with high uPA and low uPA were 20% and 51%, respectively. The tumors with high expression of uPA showed degradation of the matrix components, including laminin and fibronectin. These findings suggested that uPA played a role to break through the surrounding basement membrane of blood and lymphatic vessels, and connective tissue for their growth and metastasis. We wish to emphasize the usefullness of the immunohistochemical evidences, such as autocrine growth mechanism and breakdown of extracellular matrix, as a possible parameters of tumor development, invasiveness and metastasis.

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