Purpose: Decorin, p57(KIP2), and TGF-beta 1 have been investigated as prognostic factors because they appear to be associated with tumorigenesis; however, the effect of decorin and p57(KIP2) in lung cancer remains poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of decorin, p57(KIP2), and TGF-beta 1 in 64 lung cancer specimens and 36 normal lung specimens, and to analyze the relationships with respect to clinicopathological features and patient survival in lung cancer.
Methods: The expression levels of decorin, p57(KIP2), and TGF-beta 1 were examined by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry.
Results: Normal tissues exhibited a higher expression level of decorin than tumor tissues (p<0.05) and tumor tissues exhibited a higher expression level of TGF-beta 1 than normal tissues (p<0.05). The expression levels of p57(KIP2) and TGF-beta 1 were significantly associated with histological types of lung cancer (p<0.05), and the expression levels of decorin and p57(KIP2) were significantly associated with lymphatic invasion (p<0.05). Moreover, increased expression of decorin and p57(KIP2) correlated with increased survival (decorin, p=0.018; p57(KIP2), p=0.012).
Conclusion: Decreased expression levels of decorin and p57(KIP2) were associated with poor postsurgical survival time and lymphatic metastasis in lung cancer patients; moreover, low expression was an adverse prognostic factor.