The role of apelin in the assessment of response to chemotherapyand prognosis in stage 4 nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Background/aim: Prediction of response to chemotherapy and prognosis bears clinical significance in patients with lung cancer. The aim of the study was to examine the association between apelin expression in tumor tissues and overall survival, progression-free survival, chemoresistance, and treatment response in stage 4 nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: A total of 81 patients who received chemotherapy due to a biopsy-documented diagnosis of NSCLC between 2004 and 2011 were retrospectively studied. Bronchoscopic biopsy samples were examined immunohistochemically.

Results: Of the overall study population (n = 81), the mean age was 59.0 ± 9.2 years; 83% (n = 67) were male and 17% (n = 14) were female. All patients received chemotherapy. A total of 30 patients (37%) had no apelin positivity, while 21 (30%) had 1 +, 20 (25%) had 2 +, and 10 (12%) had 3 + apelin positivity. We detected no association between apelin positivity and overall survival, 6-month survival, or 1-year survival rates (P = 0.05, 0.74, and 0.63). Patients with apelin expression as compared to those without it had shorter overall survival (P = 0.05).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that apelin, an angiogenic factor, does not seem to provide significant prognostic information in this patient group.