Cancer Research Lab

The expression of three specific genes in microarray studies provides information on overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Canadian investigators report.

Dr. Ming-Sound Tsao of Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and colleagues analyzed 158 possible prognostic genes, identified in previous studies as being potentially linked to NSCLC, by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in the tumors of 14 patients with NSCLC.

As reported in the December 10 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, they identified a three-gene classifier, involving genes STX1A, HIF1A and CCR7, that was predictive of overall survival, with a hazard ratio of 3.8.

“The classifier was also able to stratify stage I and II patients and further improved the predictive ability of clinical factors such as histology and tumor stage,” Dr. Tsao and colleagues report. “The predictive value of this three-gene classifier was validated in two large independent microarray data sets from Harvard and Duke Universities.”

Dr. Tsao’s team says that STX1A is associated with more aggressive forms of colon and rectal carcinomas and the chemokine receptor CCR7 is highly expressed in a number of tumors, including NSCLC, and is linked to increased invasion, lymph node infiltration, metastasis, and poor prognosis. Similarly, HIF1A is correlated with a poor prognosis.

“Once further validated in other independent patient cohorts and with standardized protocols in hand, a significant advantage of our robust three-gene classifier for NSCLC is that it may be easily implemented in the clinic using cost-effective multiplex RT-qPCR assays,” Dr. Tsao and colleagues point out.