Chinese Journal of Lung Cancer (Feb 2011)
Detection of MTAP Protein and Gene Expression in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
Abstract
Background and objective The abnormal expression of MTAP, a tumor suppressor gene, is found in a variety of tumor tissues. The aim of this study is to detect the expression of MTAP mRNA protein and the clinical significance for the therapy of non-small cell lung cancer tissue (NSCLC). Methods The expression of MTAP protein was detected by immunohistochemistry in 52 cases of NSCLC patients. The relative expression MTAP mRNA was detected by real-time quantitative PCR. Results The expression of MTAP protein in NSCLC tissue was significantly lower than that in paracarcinomous tissue and borderline lung tissue respectively (t=10.283, 10.940, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference among gender, age, smoking history, histology except differentiation (t=2.310, P=0.025). The MTAP mRNA relative expression in NSCLC tissue was significantly lower than that in paracarcinomous tissue (t=9.902, P < 0.001). Conclusion Downregulation of MTAP protein and gene expression is correlated to the oncogenesis and progression of NSCLC.
