[Expression of ASPP gene family and its relationship with survival of patients with non-small cell lung cancer].

Objective: To investigate the expression of ASPP gene family, and to explore its relationship with the survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Tumor samples collected from 91 pathologically confirmed NSCLC patients treated in the Cancer Hospital of Guiyang Medical University from September 1997 to December 2005 were used in this study. The expression of ASPP1, ASPP2, iASPP, and p53 in the tumor samples were examined by immunohistochemistry. The relevance of ASPP family proteins and survival of the patients was analyzed.

Results: In the stage III and IV NSCLC patients, the median survival period of ASPP2-positive group was 18 months and that of negative group was 7 months (P = 0.002). The median survival of stage I NSCLC patients with iASPP-negative group was 22 months and that of the positive group was 2 months (P = 0.00 3). The median survival of patients with stage III NSCLC in the iASPP-negative group was 19 months and that of the positive group was 7 months (P = 0.014 1). In the 54 cases of wild type P53 expression, there were 15 patients with stage III NSCLC patients. Among them, the median survival of ASPP2-positive cases was 22 months and that of the negative cases was 11 months (P = 0.029 3). The median survival period of iASPP-negative cases of stage I NSCLC patients was 41 months and that of positive cases was 7 months (P = 0.021 6). Among the stage III NSCLC patients, the median survival period of iASPP-negative cases was 21 months and that of the positive cases was 2 months (P = 0.001 1). Fifteen patients with stage III NSCLC of the 37 patients with mutant P53 expression, the survival period of the ASPP2-positive cases was significantly longer than that of negative cases (P = 0.019 2). The multivariate analysis showed that expression levels of ASPP2 and iASPP were correlated with prognosis of the patients (P < 0.05 for both).

Conclusions: Expression of ASPP2 and iASPP is a predictor of survival in NSCLC patients. Expression of ASPP2 is a good prognostic factor, while expression of iASPP is an unfavourable prognostic factor in NSCLC patients.