RACK1 is a candidate gene associated with the prognosis of patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: This study was conducted to identify genetic polymorphisms associated with the prognosis of patients with early stage NSCLC.

Materials And Methods: We genotyped 1,969 potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 1,151 genes involved in carcinogenesis in 166 NSCLC patients who underwent curative surgery, using the Affymetrix custom-made GeneChip. A replication study was performed in an independent cohort of 626 patients.

Results: Fifty six SNPs which were associated with both overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) with log-rank P values < 0.05 in discovery set were selected for validation. Among those, five SNPs (RACK1 rs1279736C>A and rs3756585T>G, C3 rs2287845T>C, PCAF rs17006625A>G, and PCM1 rs17691523C>G) were found to be significantly associated with survival in the same direction as the discovery set. In combined analysis, the rs1279736C>A and rs3756585T>G were most significantly associated with OS and DFS in multivariate analysis (P for OS = 4 × 10⁻⁵ and 7 × 10⁻⁵, respectively; and P for DFS = 0.003, both; under codominant model). In vitro promoter assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that the rs3756585 T-to-G change increased promoter activity and transcription factor binding of RACK1.

Conclusions: We identified five SNPs, especially RACK1 rs3756585T>G, as markers for prognosis of patients with surgically resected NSCLC.