Increased stathmin correlates with advanced stage and poor survival of non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies show that overexpression of stathmin involved in the malignant biological behavior of lung cancer. This investigation is to disclose the expression status of stathmin in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its clinical value for the diagnosis and prognosis to lung cancer.

METHODS: The expression of stathmin in cells and tissues of NSCLC was examined using immunohistochemistry (IHC), in-situ hybridization (ISH), and Western blot. The correlation between stathmin expression and survival of lung cancer patients was evaluated by a Kaplan-Meier method and the multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS: NSCLC tissues and cells showed an overexpression of stathmin compared with normal lung tissues and cells (p< 0.05). And the expression level of stathmin was significantly associated with lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) (p< 0.05), lymphatic invasion (p< 0.05) and advanced stages of NSCLC (p< 0.05). Moreover, overexpression of stathmin predicted a reduced survival (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Increased stathmin correlated with pathologic grade, lymphatic invasion, advanced stage and poor survival of NSCLC, which indicated that stathmin could serve as a potential biomarker of NSCLC.