BACKGROUNDTo study the expressions and its clinical significances of fas and P53 protein in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after complete surgical resection.

METHODSImmunohistochemical stain of fas and P53 was performed on paraffin-embedded sections from 269 NSCLC patients who underwent surgery and were followed up for 1.1 to 122.2 (median, 48.4) months postoperatively. Differences in survival rates and clinical characteristics were evaluated by SPSS10.0 statistical software packet.

RESULTSThe rate of fas and P53 expression in NSCLC cancer tissue was 43.1% and 49.4% respectively. Fas expressions were seen more frequently in female patients (59.3% vs 39.1%, P < 0.01). Univariate analysis showed that fas expression was a good factor for predicting prognosis. The 5-year survival rate of the patients whose tumors had positive fas expression was significantly better than those individuals whose tumors had negative fas expression (51.4% vs 42.4%, P=0.02), especially in patients in stage I and IIIA . The expression of P53 had no significant influence on the prognosis of these 269 NSCLC patients. Combined analysis of fas and P53 expression in NSCLC cancer tissues showed significant prognostic influence (P=0.01). The 5-year survival were 40.1% (fas+ and P53-), 45.4% (both positive or both negative) and 57.2% (fas- and P53+), respectively. COX multivariate analysis showed that reduced fas expression in 269 NSCLC is an independent risk factor, especially in stage IIIA NSCLC.

CONCLUSIONSFas and P53 protein are indicators of NSCLC biological behavior. Reduced fas expression in NSCLC is an independent risk factor for early stage patients. Analysis of apoptosis related proteins expression in tumors might be helpful to predict the prognosis of patients with NSCLC.