OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of mTOR expression on prognosis of early stage NSCLC.

METHODSOne-hundred and thirty-eight patients who underwent radical surgery for early stage NSCLC in our hospital from Janurary 2002 to December 2006 were included in this study. There were 83 males and 55 females, in an average age of 65.8 years, for both genders). The influence of age, gender, tumor typing, pathological grading, pathological staging and mTOR expression on patients' survival were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses.

RESULTSThe 5-year survival rate of the 138 cases was 44.8%. Immunohistochemical examination showed that mTOR-positive cases accounted for 101 while mTOR-negative cases accounted for 37. The 5-year survival rate of mTOR-positive patients was 32.7% and that of mTOR-negative patients was 56.4% (P = 0.019). Univariate analysis showed that mTOR expression, pathological staging and N1 lymph node metastasis were identified as significant prognostic factors, and were correlated to prognosis (P < 0.05 for all). Multivaraite analysis showed that pathological staging, mTOR expression, N1 lymph node involvement were identified as independent prognostic factors for patients with early NSCLC (P < 0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONSOur findings suggest that overexpression of mTOR indicates a poor prognosis for NSCLC. mTOR, pathological stage and N1 lymph node metastasis are independent prognostic factors in early stage NSCLC.