BACKGROUNDTo investigate the role of FHIT (fragile histidine triad) gene in oncogenesis and progression of human lung cancer.

METHODSThe expression of FHIT gene was detected in 166 lung cancer samples and 37 benign pulmonary lesion tissues as control by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThe positive rate of FHIT expression in lung cancer tissues was 63.03%±26.41%, which was significantly lower than that in tisssues adjacent to cancer (83.74%±17.46%) (P < 0.01 ), and both positive rates in cancer tissues and tissues adjacent to cancer were significantly lower than that in benign lesion tissues (92.98%±5.56%)(P < 0.01). The expression level of FHIT gene was closely related to histological classification, cancer cell differentiation, P TNM stages and lymph node involvement in lung cancer patients (P < 0.05). The positive rate of FHIT expression in smoking lung cancer patients was remarkably lower than that in non smoking ones ( 55.14% ±27.55% vs 71.93%±22.05%, P < 0.01). The postoperative survival time in patients with high FHIT expression was significantly longer than those with low expression (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSReduction of FHIT gene expression might be associated with the oncogenesis and progression of human lung cancer; Smoking may be one of the important reasons of reduction of FHIT gene expression in lung cancer patients.