Correlation of neuroendocrine features with prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer

// Jianguo Feng 1, 2, * , Huaying Sheng 3, * , Chihong Zhu 2 , Xiaoqian Qian 2 , Danying Wan 2 , Dan Su 1, 2 , Xufeng Chen 4 , Liming Zhu 5 1 Key Laboratory Diagnosis and Treatment Technology on Thoracic Oncology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China 2 Cancer Research Institute, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China 3 Department of Thoracic Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China 4 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA 5 Department of Chemotherapy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Liming Zhu, email: mdtlab@zjcc.org.cn Keywords: non-small cell lung cancer, neuroendocrine, CD56, CgA, Syn Received: June 20, 2016 Accepted: September 21, 2016 Published: September 28, 2016 ABSTRACT The improvement in histological diagnostic tools, including neuroendocrine markers by immunohistochemistry (IHC), has led to increased recognition of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with neuroendocrine (NE) feature. However, little is known regarding the prevalence and clinical implications of NE feature in patients with NSCLC. In this study, we performed IHC in a tissue microarray containing 451 Chinese NSCLC cases, and analyzed correlation of the expression of neuroendocrine marker with pathological and clinical features of NSCLC. The result showed that NE feature in NSCLC was detectable in almost 30% of studied patients, and tumors with NE feature were significantly correlated with pathological classification, clinical stages and cell differentiation of NSCLC. Our data also revealed that NE feature indicated worse overall survival and disease free survival. Compared with mutant p53, NE markers showed more significance as for prognostic evaluation. Multi-factor COX analysis further suggested a potential clinical impact for NE feature as an independent indicator of poor prognosis for NSCLC patients.