Alterations of Fas-pathway genes associated with nodal metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer.

Many types of cancer cells are resistant to Fas-mediated apoptosis by several mechanisms, including the mutations of the genes involved in Fas-mediated apoptosis. In this study, to explore the possibility that the mutations of the genes involved in the proximal pathway of Fas-mediated apoptosis (Fas, FADD, caspase 8 and caspase 10) are involved in cancer metastasis, we have analysed somatic mutation and deletion of these genes in 80 non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) with (n=43) and without (n=37) metastasis to the regional lymph nodes. We found 12 mutations (four Fas, four FADD, and four caspase 10 mutations) in 11 of 80 NSCLCs (13.