Clinical significance of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor expression in stage I non-small-cell lung cancer: immunohistochemical analysis.

Background/aims: The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has been implicated in tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. However, reports on the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) based on radioimmunoassays are conflicting, and its prognostic implications in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are still controversial.

Methods: Seventy-one paraffin-embedded tissue sections from stage I NSCLC patients were stained using a mouse monoclonal antibody against human IGF-1R.