BACKGROUNDTo investigate the role of protein kinase CβII (PKC-βII) expression and apoptosis in the oncogenesis and development of non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODSThe expression of PKC-βII and apoptosis were detected in 119 human non-small cell lung cancer tissues and paracancerous lung tissues by TUNEL and LSAB, and 32 benign pulmonary disease tissues as control.

RESULTSThe expression of PKC-βII (85.39%) in lung cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in paracancerous lung tissues and benign pulmonary disease tissues (65.69% and 53.22%) ( P < 0.05), and the PKC-βII expression in paracancerous samples was also remarkably higher than that in benign pulmonary disease samples ( P < 0.05). The apoptotic index (AI) (5.27%) in lung cancer tissue was significantly lower than that in the benign lung lesion tissue (15.84%) ( P < 0.05). No significant relationship was observed between the expression of PKC-βII in lung cancer tissue and clinical physiopathological characteristics ( P > 0.05). The AI in the lung cancer tissues was closely related to the stages of the cancer, size of primary tumor and lymph node metastasis ( P < 0.05), but not to the histological classification, cell differentiation and location of the tumor, and sex and age of the patient with lung cancer ( P > 0.05). A highly significant negative correlation was observed between PKC-βII expression and AI in the lung cancer group ( P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe abnormal activation of PKC-βII and the suppression of apoptosis may play important roles in the oncogenesis and development of non-small cell lung cancer. The overproliferation of cells and suppression of apoptosis transducted by PKC-βII may be one of the important mechanisms of the oncogenesis and development of non-small cell lung cancer.