Absence of prognostic significance of bcl-2 immunopositivity in non-small cell lung cancer: analysis of 427 cases. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The bcl-2 gene product inhibits apoptosis and is thought to participate in oncogenesis. Association of bcl-2 immunopositivity with improved prognosis of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) is controversial. Although two studies have reported better survival in bcl-2-immunopositive NSCLCs, a third series has contradicted this finding. The authors studied a relatively larger case series involving 427 patients for whom detailed information on long-term follow-up was available to determine the prognostic significance of bcl-2 expression. The study included 252 adenocarcinomas (AC), 111 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), and 64 large cell carcinomas (LC). After antigen retrieval, sections were immunostained using a monoclonal anti-bcl-2 antibody (1:60, Clone 124, Dako) and the avidin-biotin complex technique. Staining was scored as positive or negative and also on a semiquantitative scale as 0, low (<10%), moderate (10% to 75%), or extensive (>75%). Bcl-2 immunoreactivity was correlated with survival using the actuarial survival method, Kaplan-Meier method, and log-rank test and was not associated with statistically significant differences in survival for NSCLCs (P = .5537). Differences in survival remained insignificant even after NSCLCs were stratified for cell type, stage, or grade, singly or in combination. Therefore, using this method, bcl-2 immunopositivity does not appear to act as an independent prognostic indicator in NSCLCs.

publication date

  • September 1, 1997

Research

keywords

  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
  • Lung Neoplasms
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0030928745

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/s0046-8177(97)90062-9

PubMed ID

  • 9308733

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 28

issue

  • 9